.T76 


LITEEAET 


CHARACTERISTICS  AND  ACHIEVEMENTS 


OF 


THE    BIBLE 


BT 


BEV.  W.'TEAIL,  A.  M., 

AUTHOR  OF  "the  CHBISTIAN  GEACES"   AND  "UNSEEN  BEAUTIES.' 


CINCINNATI'. 
HITCHCOCK   &   WALDEN. 

NE]V  YORK: 

CARLTON  &  LANAHAN. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  AMERICAN  EDITION. 


The  author  has  brought  to  the  composition  of 
this  volume  a  taste,  a  culture,  and  an  earnestness 
of  purpose  which  have  left  their  impress  upon  every 
chapter.  He  manifestly  entered  into  the  spirit  of 
his  work.  While,  with  a  master  hand,  he  discloses 
the  beauties  of  the  Bible — its  high  literary  char- 
acteristics, and  its  wonderful  achievements — he  is 
constantly  directing  the  reader  to  its  Divine  author- 
ship. No  one  can  rise  from  the  perusal  of  this 
work  without  feeling  that  the  blessed  volume  of 
which  it  treats,  is, 

"  On  every  line, 
Marked  with  the  seal  of  high  Divinity  ; 
On  every  leaf,  bedewed  with  drops  of  love 
Divine,  and  with  the  eternal  heraldry 
And  signature  of  God  Almighty  stamped, 
From  first  to  last." 

The  religious  public  of  Great  Britain  have  at- 
tested their  appreciation  of  its  value  in  the  suc- 
cessive editions  of  it  that  have  been  demanded. 
The  English  press  has  also  bestowed  upon  it  the 
highest  encomiums.  It  now  remains  to  be  seen 
whether  it  shall  have  equal  appreciation  from  the 
Christian  public  of  America. 


4  PREFACE. 

We  have  also  felt  desirous  of  supplying  a  want  in 
our  denominational  literature.  Our  book  catalogue 
in  this  department  was  utterly  wanting.  As  a 
help  to  a  better  appreciation  of  the  character  of 
the  Bible  and  its  relations  to  the  literary  produc- 
tions of  the  human  mind  uninspired,  and  also  to 
the  better  appreciation  of  its  influence  upon  the 
literature,  science,  and  intellect  of  the  world,  this 
volume  should  go  into  the  hands  of  every  Bible 
student;  it  should  find  a  place  in  every  Christian 
home.  The  Bible  class,  or  Sunday  school  teacher, 
who  shall  read  it  consecutively,  will  have  his  views 
of  the  Bible  enlarged,  and  find  himself  more  fully 
equipped  for  his  work.  No  Sunday  school  library 
should  be  without  a  copy.  But  to  the  minister, 
preaching  Christ,  and  presenting  the  claims  of  the 
Bible,  it  will  be  found  invaluable. 

By  its  fluent  style,  its  line  of  thought  and  mode 
of  discussion,  it  is  eminently  adapted  to  popular 
reading.  It  is,  in  fact,  like  the  Bible  itself,  a  'peo- 
ples hook.  Learned  criticisms — as  dry  as  learned, 
and  as  long  as  dry — we  have  in  abundance.  But 
popular  presentations  of  the  Bible,  exhibiting  its 
striking  characteristics  and  its  adaptations,  are  few 
and  rare.  We  have  gone  over  its  pages  carefully, 
and  given  it  such  adaptation  to  its  mission  in  Amer- 
ica as  seemed  desirable. 

With  these  brief  notes,  we  now  commend  it  to 
the  Christian  public.  D.  W.  C. 

Cincinnati,  October  1,  1863. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  ENGLISH  EDITION. 


It  is  not  without  considerable  hesitation  that  I 
present  this  Arolume  to  the  public.  The  subject,  in 
detached  parts,  has  been  treated  by  far  abler  pens; 
but,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  the  attempt  has  not  been 
made,  in  any  single  volume  at  least,  to  exhibit  the 
subject  with  the  same  comprehensiveness  and  sys- 
tem. Where  I  had  the  labors  of  preceding  writers 
to  direct  and  aid  me,  I  felt  less  hesitation;  where  I 
had  not  these  guides,  the  importance  of  the  subject 
not  unfrequently  caused  me  to  doubt  my  own  ability 
to  handle  it,  so  as,  while  gaining  the  ear  of  those 
who  are  of  literary  taste  and  culture,  there  should 
be  nothing  to  offend  the  sensibilities  of  a  pure  and 
simple  piety.  I  had  an  abiding  conviction  that  a 
free  exhibition  of  the  literature  of  the  Bible  is  cal- 
culated to  strengthen  our  belief  in  its  Divine  inspi- 
ration; but  on  the  other  hand,  it  needed  caution, 
while  freely  exhibiting  its  literary  characteristics, 
not  to  present  the  Bible  as  merely  a  literary  pro- 
duction.   I  have  striven  to  use  this  caution ;  so  that, 

although  I  do  not  on  every  other  page  reiterate  my 

5 


6  PEEFACE. 

belief  in  its  Divine  inspiration,  I  am  hopeful  that 
the  reader  will  find  nothing  in  this  volume  which 
can  have  a  tendency  to  put  away  from  his  mind  the 
thought  which  was  constantly  present  to  my  own — 
that  the  book  whose  own  literary  beauties  I  exam- 
ine, and  whose  influence  on  literature  and  the  arts 
I  endeavor  to  trace  and  record,  is  none  other  than 
the  Book  of  God.  I  shall  have  sadly  failed  in  my 
design  if  what  I  present  to  the  reader  does  not 
increase  his  devout  admiration  of  the  Bible  as  a 
book,  which  is  as  divinely  beautiful  as  it  is  divinely 
true. 

Notwithstanding  my  misgivings  whether  I  have 
been  at  all  able  to  do  justice  to  so  important  a  sub- 
ject, I  am  fain  to  persuade  myself  that  till  some 
one  more  competent  to  the  task  shall  undertake  it, 
the  present  volume  may,  in  some  small  degree,  sup- 
ply what  I  have  long  felt  to  be  a  desideratum  in 
sacred  literature. 


COJSTTEIf  TS 


PART  FIRST 

LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


CHAPTER  L 

PAQE. 

A  Depknsb  and  Enfoeckment  op  the  Study  op  the  Litera- 

TUEE  OP   THE   BiBLE 13 

CHAPTER  IL 
The  Style  op  the  Scbiptuees 35 

CHAPTER  ni. 
The  Fioubativb  in  the  Sceiptuees 51 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Thb  Fioubativb  in  the  Sceiptuees — continued 65 

CHAPTER  V. 
Thb  Symbolic  in  the  Sceiptuees 89 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Thb  Sublime  in  the  Sceiptuees 102 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Ths  Pathetic  in  the  Sceiptuees 121 


8  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  Vm. 

FAOK. 

The  Pictubesque  in  the  Scriptubes 141 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Hebbew  Poetry 161 

CHAPTER  X. 
Hebrew  Poetby — continued 183 

CHAPTER  XL 
The  Historical  in  the  Scriptures 198 

CHAPTER  XIL 
The  Bidgbaphies  of  Scripture 212 

CHAPTER  Xm 
The  Two  Standards  of  Litebabt  Mebit 221 


PART  SECOND. 

LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

CHAPTER  I. 
Introductory 229 

CHAPTER  II. 
The  Bible,  the  Pioneer  op  Literature  and  the  Arts 241 

CHAPTER  III. 

The  Bible,  the  Promoter  op  Literature  and  the  Arts  — 
Modern  Postbt 256 


CONTENTS.  9 

CHAPTER  IV. 

PAOE. 

The  Biblk  the  Pbomoteb  of  Literature  and  the  Arts — 
Modern  Painting 276 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  Bible  the  Promoter  op  Literature  and  the  Arts — 
Modern  Sculpture  and  Music 291 

CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Bible  the  Promoter  of  Literature  and  the  Arts — 
Modern  General  Literature 302 

CHAPTER  VII 

The  Bible  the  Restorer  of  Literature  and  the  Arts — 
when  Europe  had  fallen  back  into  Military  Bar- 
barism   313 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  Bible  the  Restorer  of  Intellectual  Life — when  Eu- 
rope had  sunk  into  an  effeminating   Superstition 330 

CHAPTER  IX 
The  Influence  of  the  Bible  on  Science 344 

CHAPTER  X. 
Conclusion 356 


PAUT   FIRST 


LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


THE 


LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


CHAPTER   I. 

A  DEFENSE  AND  ENFORCEMENT  OF  THE  STUDY  OF  THE 
LITERATUIVE  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

There  are  certain  prejudices  from  which  dissent 
should  be  entered  with  a  frank  acknowledgment  of 
the  righteousness  of  the  feeling  from  which  they 
spring.  The  subject  which  we  purpose  to  dis- 
cuss on  these  pages  will  at  once  suggest  a  case  in 
which  this  ought  to  be  done.  There  are  not  a  few 
who  confess  to  a  strong  disinclination  to  hear  the 
Bible  spoken  of  as  a  literary  production.  Now, 
with  the  feelings  of  these  we  are  free  to  own  a 
sympathy;  since  what  disinclines  them  to  associate 
it  with  literature  is  their  devout  reverence  for  the 
Word  of  God.  And  we  should  have  to  blame  our- 
selves did  we  not  frankly  admit  this,  while  express- 
ing our  entire  dissent  from  their  opinion.  Indeed, 
justice  to  ourselves  requires  this,  for  we  would  not 
willingly  be  thought  to  be  one  whit  behind  them  in 

our  reverence  for  that  Book  which,  as  devoutly  as 

13 


14        LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OP   THE   BIBLE. 

they,  we  believe  to  be  the  very  Word  of  God. 
"With  a  faith  as  simple  as  theirs  we  would  bow  to  its 
Divine  authority,  and  with  equal  reverence  we  would 
approach  its  holy  pages.  To  us,  as  to  them,  it  is 
full  of  God;  and  could  we  suppose  that  there  is 
irreverence  or  even  idle  curiosity  in  examining  its 
literary  characteristics,  certainly  we  would  never 
have  essayed  the  task.  We  venture  on  our  subject 
not  without  some  misgivings;  but  among  these  is 
not  any  fear  that  a  study  of  its  literature  will  lead 
our  readers  the  less  devoutly  to  believe  in  the  Divine 
inspiration  of  the  Bible. 

This  disinclination  which  some  avow  to  hear  the 
Sacred  Volume  spoken  of  as  a  literary  production,  as 
seems  to  us,  is  calculated  to  do  it  the  great  injustice 
of  prejudicing  against  it  such  as  are  of  literary 
tastes  and  culture;  and  it  may,  besides,  be  shown 
to  proceed  from  more  than  one  misconception. 

Thus,  when  the  suspicion  is  expressed  that  it 
derogates  from  the  Divine  authority  of  the  Scrip- 
tures to  have  their  literary  merits  tried  by  the  laws 
of  human  criticism,  we  venture  to  be  of  the  opin- 
ion that  this  suspicion  proceeds  on  a  misconception 
of  what  these  laws  are.  They  are  the  exponents, 
not  of  mere  conventional  fashions  in  taste,  still  less 
of  the  caprices  of  individual  opinion,  but  of  those 
universal  notions  of  the  beautiful,  which  have  their 
seats  in  human  nature  itself,  having  been  implanted 
there  by  the  Creator,  who,  in  this  respect,  has 
formed  his  creatures  after  his  own  image.     For, 


THE  STUDY  OF  THE  BIBLE  LITERATURE.     15 

when  reviewing  all  that  he  had  made,  he  pro- 
nounced it  to  be  very  good;  doubtless  he  tried  the 
visible  forms  by  those  mental  conceptions  of  beauty 
and  fitness  which  in  him  are  eternal,  and  in  us 
from  him  derived.  Each  several  work  was  good, 
as  answering  to  his  great  idea.  Now,  it  is  these 
fundamental  principles  of  beauty,  which  have  a 
Divine  origin,  that  a  correct  criticism  applies  to  the 
Scriptures.  We  can  not,  therefore,  see  how  it  shall 
derogate  from  their  Divine  authority  or  majesty  to 
be  tested  by  a  standard  which  is  itself  divine. 

The  truth  is,  we  can  not  avoid  applying  the  prin- 
ciples or  laws  of  taste  to  the  Word  of  God,  any  more 
than  we  can  refrain  from  applying  them  to  his 
works.  And,  as  we  have  just  said,  there  is  the 
Divine  sanction,  or  rather  the  Divine  example,  for 
our  doing  the  latter.  With  regard  to  the  natural 
landscape,  the  object  of  the  devout  student  is  not 
to  pronounce  how  it  ought  to  have  been  laid  out, 
but  rather  to  discover  and  expound  the  actual  beau- 
ties which  adorn  it.  So  shall  it  be  the  office  of  the 
critic,  not  to  bend  the  Scriptures  to  the  rules  of  his 
art,  so  much  as  it  will  be  to  show  that  in  them 
these  rules  have  their  finest  verification.  And 
surely  this  task  is  not  incompatible  with  a  faith 
both  simple  and  devout.  It  shall  not  nurse  the 
arrogance  of  pride,  but  the  humility  of  devotion. 
Not  petulant  to  fault,  but  disposed  to  praise,  its 
work  is  every  way  fitted  to  increase  the  sentiments 
of  a  devout  admiration.     For,  when  the  critic  brings 


16       LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

his  own  conceptions  of  the  beautiful  within  the  pre- 
cincts of  inspiration,  and  shall  find,  as  he  is  sure  to 
do,  that  each  utterance  of  the  sacred  oracle  gives 
full  expression  to  these  conceptions  and  might  be  said 
to  be  the  parent  voice  of  which  they  are  the  feeble 
though  articulate  echo,  it  is  impossible  that  his 
admiration  of  this  Divine  book  shall  not  be  greatly 
increased.  The  progress  of  criticism  has  enabled 
him  to  reduce  our  notions  of  the  beautiful  and  the 
sublime. to  certain  rules;  but  here  is  a  most  ancient 
book,  great  part  of  which  was  written  during  the 
rudest  infancy  of  literature,  which  has  anticipated 
these  rules;  thus  showing  that  its  author  was  most 
intimately  acquainted  with  the  yet  unstudied  laws 
of  our  emotional  nature.  And  surely  the  discovery 
of  this  fact  is  calculated  to  raise  our  admiration 
both  of  the  book  and  its  author. 

Then,  further,  if  it  is  thought  that  an  examina- 
tion of  the  literature  of  the  Bible  implies  that  we 
place  it  on  a  level  with  other  books,  we  must  pro- 
nounce this  also  to  be  a  misconception.  For  in 
order  rightly  to  institute  the  comparison,  so  far 
from  placing  it  in  the  same  catalogue  with  these, 
we  must  needs  proclaim  it  to  be  altogether  unique. 
And  although  it  is  not  to  be  expected  of  us,  that 
on  every  other  page  we  shall  keep  reiterating  our 
belief  in  its  divinity,  the  avowal  with  which  we 
start  in  making  the  comparison  is,  that  it  stands 
forth  the  one  Divine  composition  which  bibliography 
authenticates;  so  that  there  are  certain  respects  in 


THE  STUDY  OF  BIBLE  LITERATURE.  17 

which  it  were  manifestly  improper  to  compare  it 
with  any  other  composition  whatever.  Our  attempt 
to  show  it  to  be  preeminently  the  book,  can  never 
succeed  if  we  lose  sight  of  the  fact,  though  not 
needlessly  reasserting  it,  that  it  exclusively  is  the 
Divine  book.  Hence,  in  any  comparison  we  may 
institute  between  the  Bible  and  other  books,  we  at 
once  except  the  authorship  and  subject-matter;  for 
in  respect  of  these  we  should  no  more  think  of 
comparing  the  Bible  with  even  the  very  greatest 
productions  of  uninspired  genius,  than  we  should 
think  of  comparing  Nature's  own  artistic  master- 
piece— the  bow  in  the  cloud — with  the  streak  of 
paint-work  by  which  the  human  artist  attempts  to 
imitate  it  on  his  canvas.  Yet  there  are  certain 
features  which  the  Bible,  as  being  itself  a  book, 
necessarily  possesses  in  common  with  other  books; 
and  it  is  in  respect  of  these  only  that  we  should 
think  of  comparing  it  with  them.  Thus,  for  exam- 
ple, its  language  is  comparable  with  theirs,  seeing 
that  it  is  composed  not  in  any  unique  dialect  of  its 
own,  but  in  two  of  the  ancient  vernaculars.  Then, 
also,  it  contains  history,  so  that  we  can  institute  a 
comparison  between  Moses  and  Luke  as  historians, 
and  Livy  or  Herodotus.  Also  it  contains  poetry; 
hence  the  merits  of  David,  or  Asaph,  or  Ezekiel  as 
poets,  can  be  compared  with  those  of  Homer,  or 
Virgil,  or  Milton.  But  all  the  while,  so  far  from 
forgetting  that  the  Bible  is  a  Divine  book,  we  keep 

this  ground  idea  constantly  in  the  forefront,  so  that 

2 


18        LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

the  comparison  at  once  assumes,  and  throughout 
maintains  this  form :  here  is  God's  style  and  man's 
style — God's  history  and  man's  history — God's  po- 
etry and  man's  poetry,  which,  both  being  presented 
in  human  language,  can  be  compared;  and  the 
result  of  that  comparison  is  to  determine  whether 
the  Book  of  God  does  not  surpass  all  other  books 
in  literary  excellence,  just  as  the  works  of  God,  on 
being  compared  with  all  other  works,  are  found  to 
excel  them  in  artistic  finish. 

We  may  not,  then,  allow  ourselves  to  be  forbidden 
the  amenities  of  sacred  literature  by  a  weak  pietism 
which  will  not  itself,  nor  let  others,  enter  the  temple 
of  sacred  truth  by  the  gate  which  is  called  ''beau- 
tiful." Nor  does  it  content  us  merely  to  defend, 
for  we  must  go  further,  and  enforce  it  as  a  duty  to 
study  the  literature  of  the  Bible. 

I.  Our  first  argument  shall  be  drawn  from  the 
constitution  of  the  human  mind  itself.  One  of  its 
primary  and  essential  faculties  is  imagination.  With- 
out this  creative  faculty,  how  much  more  limited 
would  be  the  range  of  human  thought !  and  without 
this  softening  and  ornative  faculty,  in  how  dry  a 
light  would  the  material  forms  in  nature  be  seen — 
sharp,  cold,  and  mechanical !  while  the  thoughts  of 
the  mind  itself  would  either  be  abrupt  impressions 
with  scarcely  any  coherence,  or  reasoned  inferences 
hung  together  by  cold  links  of  logic.  Depose  imag- 
ination from  its  seat  among  the  mental  faculties, 
and  you  introduce  a  schism  into  the  soul,  the  result 


THE   STUDY   OF   BIBLE   LITERATURE.  19 

of  whicli  would  be  that  its  highest  affections  would 
remain  unexercised.  For  without  the  fascinating 
combinations  in  which  imagination  groups,  and  the 
picturesque  lights  in  which  it  variegates  the  conclu- 
sions of  the  reason,  the  objects  of  perception,  the 
reminiscences  of  memory,  and  the  anticipations  of 
hope,  it  may  be  questioned  whether  the  exercises  of 
these  faculties  would  long  be  tolerable.  But  assign 
to  imagination  its  due  place  among  the  mental  pow- 
ers, and  then  all  are  harmonized — the  sharp  angles 
at  which  they  would  infringe  and  grate  on  each 
other  are  rounded  and  smoothed;  intellectual  labor 
becomes  a  pleasure,  while  the  intellect  itself  is 
exalted,   refined,   enlarged. 

From  its  excursive  nature,  the  imagination  re- 
quires to  be  kept  under  the  government  of  the 
understanding,  otherwise  it  might  run  into  mere 
fantasies.  But  when  under  proper  control,  the 
beautiful  forms  and  imagery  into  which  it  shapes 
our  thoughts,  though  some  of  them  more  beautiful 
than  actually  do  exist,  are  not  necessarily  untruth- 
ful or  delusive.  For  the  idealizations,  we  do  not 
say  of  mere  fancy,  but  of  the  imagination  in  its 
higher  sense,  are  a  reality  and  a  truth,  in  so  far  as 
they  are  •  the  expression  of  that  yearning  in  the 
human  soul  after  some  things  better,  purer,  more 
beautiful — in  short,  after  perfection. 

It  can  not,  therefore,  be  that  so  sublime  a  faculty 
was  given  to  man  unless  to  be  used  by  him.  And 
in  cultivating  it,  are  we  to  throw  open  to  it  every 


20         LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

domain  except  that  in  which  it  might  expatiate 
with  the  purest  pleasure,  and  from  which  it  may 
bring  back  the  richest  gatherings?  In  a  word,  is 
imagination  to  be  excluded  from  the  precincts  of 
revelation?  We  emphatically  answer,  that  no  such 
interdiction  has  come  from  the  God  of  revelation. 
On  the  contrary,  the  pages. of  his  inspired  prophets 
are  made  redolent  with  the  voice  of  song,  as  if 
purposely  to  woo  the  approach  of  that  faculty 
which  poetry  specially  addresses.  And  even  where 
the  voice  of  song  is  not  heard  there  often  breathes 
the  spirit  of  poetry  throughout  the  Bible,  which, 
not  to  be  a  continued  poem,  is  perhaps,  of  all  books, 
the  most  poetical.  Then  the  style  of  the  Scriptures 
is  so  richly  figurative;  and  the  pattern  which  has 
been  wrought  into  the  web  of  inspiration  is  of  the 
most  gorgeous  description.  Now,  from  this  two 
inferences  appear  to  be  inevitable.  First,  that  im- 
agination was  employed  in  the  composition  of  the 
Scriptures;  for  without  their  possession  of  this  fac- 
ulty, and  in  a  high  degree,  neither  Ezekiel  into  his 
prophetic,  nor  John  into  his  apocalyptic  visions, 
could  have  worked  so  splendid  an  imagery;  not 
less  then  this  faculty,  than  memory  or  reason,  was 
inspired  in  these  writers.  Second,  if  God  availed 
himself  of  the  imaginative  faculty  of  the  writers  in 
the  composition  of  the  Scriptures,  he  certainly  must 
have  intended  the  same  faculty  to  be  used  in  the 
perusal  of  them.  For  just  as  there  are  beauties  on 
the  pages  of  a  Milton,  or  a  Cowpcr,  which  the  reader 


THE   STUDY   OF   THE   BIBLE   LITERATURE.  21 

would  not  discover,  and  still  less  appreciate,  unless 
lie  brings  imagination's  eye  to  peruse  what  it  needed 
imagination's  finger  to  pencil ;  so  is  it  with  the  pages 
of  Isaiah,  or  Jeremiah,  or  Ezekiel.  Fully  to  per- 
ceive the  beauties  of  these  writers,  we  must  bring 
with  us  the  same  imaginative  faculty,  which  in  them 
was  inspired,  and  which  in  us  may  be  rightly  guided 
by  the  same  Spirit. 

Closely  allied  with  the  imagination  there  belongs 
to  the  human  mind  another  faculty,  which,  by  a 
metaphor  borrowed  from  one  of  the  bodily  senses, 
has  been  called  taste.  Though  mental  philosophers 
differ  as  to  whether  this  is  an  original  or  a  deriva- 
tive faculty,  they  are  all  agreed  that  it  is  universal 
in  human  nature.  Exactly  to  define  this  faculty 
were  not  easy,  for  it  is  indeed,  as  Edmund  Burke 
says  of  it,  "delicate  and  aerial,"  and  "seems  too 
volatile  to  endure  even  the  chains  of  a  definition." 
Without  precisely  defining  we  may  describe  taste  to 
be  that  faculty  of  the  mind  by  which  we  both  per- 
ceive and  enjoy  whatever  is  beautiful  or  sublime  in 
any  works,  whether  Divine  or  human.  The  pleas- 
ures of  taste  are  of  a  pure  and  exalted  kind,  and 
though  in  themselves  not  strictly  virtuous,  yet  they 
have  this  much  to  do  with  virtue,  that  one  of  the 
best  aids  in  cultivating  a  correct  taste  is  goodness 
of  heart,  or  moral  purity ;  for  when  it  is  allied  with 
this  its  perceptions  are  quickened  and  its  pleasures 
enhanced. 

Can  this  fine  faculty  have  justice  done  to  it  if  it 


22       LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

is  interdicted  the  contemplation  of  the  literary  beau- 
ties of  the  Bible?  We.  certainly  think  not.  For 
believing  as  we  do  that  the  created  is,  as  it  were, 
the  vestibule  to  the  revealed — the  beautiful  and 
sublime  in  form  as  exhibited  in  the  former  prepar- 
ing the  mind,  so  far  at  least,  to  appreciate  the 
higher  beauty  and  sublimity  of  spiritual  ideas  in 
the  latter — we  claim  for  taste  that  if  it  comes  with 
its  eye  purged  as  with  rue,  it  shall  be  admitted 
through  the  vestibule  into  the  shrine  of  the  temple. 
And  if  it  shall  be  said  that  all  its  eye  can  perceive 
is  the  mere  embroidery  or  ornaments  on  the  vest- 
ments of  celestial  truth,  and  all  its  ear  can  listen  to 
is  the  music  of  her  voice,  then  we  may  answer  that 
he  who  can  do  this  is  so  far  prepared  for  gazing  on 
her  form  and  entering  into  her  thoughts. 

The  truths  of  physical  science  have  often  to  be 
searched  for  over  paths  that  are  rugged,  and  in 
places  where  beauty  rarely  dwells.  On  the  rough 
steep  of  the  mountain,  among  the  rifted  rocks,  down 
in  dark  mines,  the  geologist,  with  toilsome  patience, 
has  to  gather  the  materials  of  his  science.  But 
when  he  comes  to  some  sequestered  nook,  where  the 
fossil-bed  is  festooned  with  flowers,  as  if  a  couch 
prepared  by  Nature's  own  hand  for  beauty's  self  to 
lie  upon — is  he  to  pass  on  that  only  among  the 
rough  and  stony  places  he  may  glean  his  speci- 
mens? Is  he  to  have  no  eye  for  Nature's  living 
charms  in  exploring  the  catacombs  of  her  ancient 
dead?     Must  his   emotional  sensibilities  be  turned 


THE  STUDY  OF  THE  BIBLE  LITERATURE.     23 

to  stone — fossilized  into  something  as  hard  as  the 
flints,  which  he  has  to  break  with  his  hammer  to 
get  at  the  incased  fossils?  Will  it  hinder  his  geo- 
logic researches,  if  he  has  a  keen  appreciation  of 
Nature's  beauties,  whether  in  her  sublime  or  her 
softer  forms?  or,  rather,  without  this  will  he  ever 
become  an  enthusiastic  geologist  ?  And  why  should 
it  be  otherwise  with  sacred  science?  "We  will  own 
that  it  also  has  its  rough  and  rugged  paths,  where, 
with  little  of  external  beauty  to  woo  the  patient 
searcher,  its  truths  must  be  explored.  But  if  it  has 
likewise  its  fair  and  lovely  places,  which  a  correct 
taste  can  not  fail  to  be  delighted  with,  are  these  to 
be  passed  by,  and  truth,  because  of  pleasing  form, 
not  to  be  contemplated?  If  sometimes,  a  stern 
eremite  of  the  rocks,  she  must  be  sought  in  her 
cell,  is  she  to  be  shunned  when  she  appears,  as 
with  the  footsteps  of  Summer,  to  beautify  her 
bowers  ? 

II.  Our  second  argument,  in  enforcing  the  study 
of  the  literature  of  the  Bible,  is  drawn  from  the 
design  of  revelation  itself;  for  in  whatever  form 
a  Divine  revelation  is  made,  whether  in  creative 
acts  or  inspired  utterances,  and  to  whomsoever 
made,  whether  to  beings  innocent  or  unfallen,  or  to 
beings  guilty  and  apostate,  its  radical  idea,  or  pri- 
mary design,  is  to  make  known  God  as  the  All- 
beautiful — the  First  Fair  as  well  as  the  First  Good. 
Plainly  this  must  lie  at  the  basis  of  all  the  uses 
intended  by  a  revelation,  since  the  only  preservative 


24        LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE  BIBLE. 

of  innocence,  and  the  only  restorative  from  apostasy, 
is  the  knowledge  of  God  as  the  supremely  Fair  and 
Good.  Accordingly  in  nature,  viewing  it  as  a  man- 
ifestation of  the  Creator  to  his  intelligent  creatures, 
we  find  that  the  sesthetical  has  also  an  ethical  use; 
the  sublime  and  beautiful,  in  which  the  visible  cre- 
ation so  greatly  abounds,  when  rightly  studied, 
having  the  effect  of  increasing  our  devout  admira- 
tion of  the  wisdom,  power,  and  goodness  of  the 
Creator.  But  for  this  one  might  say  that  much 
needless  artistic  decoration  has  been  lavished  on  our 
planet;  since  why  else  should  the  Creator  have  mir- 
rored images  of  such  amazing  grandeur  on  the 
waters  of  ocean  ?  or  why  have  dipped  the  desert  flow- 
ers in  hues  so  exquisitely  various?  or  why  have 
vernaled  the  crumbling  ruin  with  the  green  ivy,  and 
taught  song-birds  to  build  their  nests  in  its  riven 
crevices?  or  why  have  painted  those  ice-palaces, 
where  arctic  Winters  sit  throned  upon  eternal  snow, 
with  a  thousand  iridescent  aurorse?  Why!  unless 
that  every-where,  by  the  ascent  of  the  beautiful,  his 
intelligent  creatures,  susceptible  as  they  are  of  the 
emotions  of  beauty,  may  rise  to  juster  conceptions 
of  Himself  who  is  the  infinitely  beautiful? 

Such  is  the  ethical  value  of  the  aesthetics  in 
nature;  and  what  other  than  a  similar  efi*ect  can 
the  sesthetics  of  revelation  have  if  they  are  rightly 
studied?  A  scheme  of  restorative  mercy  had  to  be 
made  known  to  our  fallen  race — fallen,  be  it  noted, 
by  their  ceasing  to  believe  in  God  as  the  supremely 


THE   STUDY   OF   THE   BIBLE   LITERATURE.  25 

Fair  and  Good — and,  therefore,  to  be  restored  only 
if  brought  back  to  that  belief.  Now,  whatever 
sesthetical  attractions  could  be  thrown  around  the 
form  in  which  this  revelation  of  mercy  has  been 
given,  would  be  auxiliary  to  its  main  design.  It 
has  been  conveyed  in  human  language;  or,  to  speak 
more  definitely,  has  taken  the  shape  of  a  book-rev- 
elation. Say,  then,  that  besides  a  grandeur  in  the 
thoughts,  there  is  also  a  gracefulness  in  the  style. 
One  effect  of  this  will  be  to  quicken  the  emotion  of 
the  beautiful,  and  thus  to  serve  as  a  contributing  help 
to  realize  in  us  a  primary  end  of  revolution ;  namely, 
to  raise  our  minds  to  juster  conceptions  of  Him 
who  is  the  infinitely  beautiful,  and  good,  and  true. 
Why,  then,  should  it  be  thought  a  thing  strange 
that  the  Divine  Spirit  has  made  use  of  its  literary 
attractions — or,  indeed,  of  any  secondary  attractions 
of  which  it  is  capable — as  a  subsidiary  means  of 
commending  the  Gospel  to  our  acceptance?  He, 
who  has  strung  the  human  heart  with  its  emotional 
chords,  knew  that  the  message  of  mercy  was  the 
more  likely  to  woo  the  listening  ear  if  couched  in 
a  style  which  is  beautiful.  Nor  is  there  any  such 
antagonism  between  inspiration  and  the  niceties  of 
language,  as  that  the  one  should  obscure  the  other; 
on  the  contrary,  each  shines  more  conspicuous  by 
blending  their  reciprocated  lights;  just  as  of  old  in 
the  Temple  of  Solomon  the  rich  embroidery  on  the 
mystic  vail,  which  dropped  before  the  inmost  shrine 
of  Deity,  was  not  hid,  but  all  the  better  seen  to  be 


26        LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE   BIBLE. 

of  cunning  workmanship  when,  on  the  great  day 
of  atonement,  the  perlucent  shekinah  forced  its  way 
from  within  through  the  transparent  tapestry ;  and 
the  rich  tracery,  while  itself  made  more  visible, 
did  not  darken,  but  rather  intensified  the  lustrous 
effulgence. 

III.  The  third  argument  by  which  we  would  en- 
force the  study  of  the  literature  of  the  Bible  is 
suggested  by  the  tactics  of  infidelity.  It  has  been 
in  fashion  with  our  infidel  literati  to  present  the 
Bible  as  a  tasteless,  inelegant,  unliterary  book,  com- 
posed for  the  most  part  in  a  dull,  heavy  style,  its 
prose  parts  entirely  wanting  in  rhetorical  finish, 
while  its  poetry,  if  occasionally  showing  lyric  fire, 
is  wild  and  rhapsodical,  and  its  imagery  extrava- 
gant, even  when  tried  by  an  Oriental  standard. 
Now,  were  this  the  case,  then  we  must  have  owned 
that  the  Bible  can  not  have  come  from  him  who  is 
the  author  of  language  and  sentiment;  and  it  is 
with  no  other  purpose  than  to  throw  discredit  on 
its  inspiration  as  being  unworthy  of  a  divine  au- 
thor, that  the  infidel  asserts  it  to  be  deficient 
in  literary  attractions.  Are  we,  then,  to  yield  up 
the  argument  to  him?  Especially  are  we  to  allow 
him  to  prejudice  ingenuous  youth  against  the  Bible, 
by  his  unjust  representations  of  its  literature,  when 
we  have  it  in  our  power  to  invite  them  to  its  pages 
by  those  very  beauties  which  have  a  peculiar  charm 
to  the  young?  Are  we  to  hear  this  celestial  gar- 
den,  with   its   tree  of  knowledge,   hung  with   the 


THE   STUDY   OF    THE   BIBLE   LITERATXJEE.  27 

fruits  and  flowers  of  sacred  literature — fair  to  the 
eye,  and  pleasant  to  the  taste,  and  fenced  round  by- 
no  Divine  prohibition — represented  as  a  wilderness 
to  repel  the  young;  and  allow  the  calumny  to  go 
forth  uncontradicted,  when,  by  our  silence,  we 
might  be  mistaken  as  consenting  to  a  misrepresent- 
ation at  once  so  false  and  so  fraught  with  danger? 
Surely  not  so;  but  the  rather  because  the  infidel 
would  dissuade,  it  is  our  duty  to  invite  those  of  lit- 
erary tastes  and  culture  to  frequent  this  second 
Paradise,  fair  as  the  first  and  more  secure;  for 
where  its  fountains  sparkled  and  its  groves  entwined 
their  floral  beauties,  there  lurked  a  serpent  to  be- 
guile; but  here  no  tempter  lies  in  wait — here  no 
death-bearing  tree  presents  its  fruit;  but  life,  and 
truth,  and  holiness,  sanctifying  the  literature  by 
which  they  are  adorned,  are  to  be  found  on  every 
branch;  while  the  God  of  inspiration,  whose  voice 
is  in  its  every  sound,  is  always  here  to  meet  and 
converse  with  his  children. 

And  here  I  can  not  refrain  from  stating  it  as  my 
conviction,  that  if  the  literature  of  the  Bible,  as 
such,  is  by  no  means  adequately  appreciated  in  this 
country,  this  in  great  measure  is  owing  to  the 
kind  of  education  which  obtains  in  our  higher 
schools  and  universities.  For  what  is  the  course  of 
reading  through  which  our  students  are  conducted  ? 
It  is  almost  entirely  of  a  heathen  complexion. 
Greek  and  Latin  are  the  classic  languages  in  our  col- 
leges.    Homer  and  Horace,  Herodotus  and  Caesar — 


28        LrrERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

not  Moses  or  Isaiah — are  the  text-books.  To  excel 
in  profane,  not  sacred  literature,  is  the  ambition  of 
our  great  scholars;  and  proficiency  in  the  former, 
even  where  there  is  entire  ignorance  of  the  latter,  is 
made  the  passport  to  wealth  and  distinction.  This, 
I  make  free  to  say,  is  not  as  it  ought  to  be;  and 
those  who  shall  succeed  in  obtaining  for  the  Bibli- 
cal writings  the  attention  which  is  due  to  their  lit- 
erary merits  in  the  training  of  youth,  besides  doing 
a  service  to  the  Bible  itself,  will,  by  infusing  a 
purer  element,  have  conferred  a  benefit  on  the  edu- 
cational institutions  of  our  country.  Not  that  I 
would  see  banished  from  our  seats  of  learning  the 
classics  of  ancient  Greece  and  Eome;  but  that  I 
would  have  often er  to  be  found  along  with  them  the 
incomparably-higher  classic  of  Palestine.  Let  Gre- 
cian eloquence  and  Eoman  song  continue  to  culti- 
vate the  minds  of  our  academies ;  but  let  it  cease  to 
oe  thought  that  the  orators  and  poets  of  Judah  are 
less  worthy  to  be  studied. 

And  here  it  occurs  to  me  to  add  another  general 
observation — that  out  of  the  literary  excellences  of 
the  Scriptures  no  small  argument  for  their  divinity 
might  be  made.  Admit  them  to  be  divine  writings, 
and  their  incomparable  literature  can  of  course  be 
easily  accounted  for.  But  on  the  supposition  of 
their  being  merely  human  compositions,  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  conceive  how  the  infidel  can  give  an  expla- 
nation of  their  literature  which  will  in  any  way 
harmonize  with  the  known  laws  of  human  thought. 


THE   STUDY  OF  THE  BIBLE   LITERATURE.  29 

That  the  Greeks  should  have  constructed  so  noble 
a  literature  will  surprise  us  less,  when  we  consider 
now  singularly  endowed  by  nature  that  people 
were  to  excel  both  in  literary  and  artistic  pursuits. 
Their  poetry,  eloquence,  music,  and  sculpture,  won- 
derful as  they  are,  do  not  go  beyond  what  we 
would  have  expected  from  their  natural  genius. 
As  for  the  Eomans,  they  had  the  Grecian  models 
to  work  upon,  and  every  scholar  knows  what  free  use 
they  made  of  these.  The  literary  monuments,  there- 
fore, which  these  two  nations  Tiave  erected,  while 
they  surprise  us  by  their  grandeur,  can  be  account- 
ed for  by  what  we  know  of  the  laws  of  mental 
development.  Indeed,  it  could  scarcely  have  been 
otherwise  than  that  the  Greek  mind  should  develop 
itself  in  such  a  literature  as  it  actually  created,  and 
the  Eoman  mind  in  such  a  literature  as  it  formed  on 
its  models.  This  was  a  necessity  of  cause  and  effect. 
But  when  we  turn  to  the  Hebrews,  it  seems  to  us 
impossible  to  explain,  on  natural  grounds,  how  a 
people  so  vastly  inferior  to  the  Greeks  in  literary 
genius  should  have  constructed  a  literature  which 
not  only  equals  but  excels  that  of  the  latter ;  or  how 
a  people,  not  superior  to  the  Eomans  in  literary  tal- 
ent, should  have  reared  some  of  the  noblest  parts  of 
their  literature  at  so  early  an  age,  when  there  were 
no  models  to  be  followed.  We  venture  to  affirm  that 
the  origin  and  progress  of  Hebrew  literature  is  a 
problem  which  will  not  admit  of  a  like  solution 
with  the  literatures  of  Greece  and  Eome,  or  indeed 


80        LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF    THE  BIBLE. 

of  any  other  nation,  whether  ancient  or  modern. 
For  we  hold  this  literature  to  be  a  singular  effect, 
for  which,  except  on  the  admission  of  a  divine  in- 
spiration, no  adequate  cause  can  be  assigned. 

IV.  Our  fourth  argument  in  enforcing  the  study 
of  Biblical  literature  is  that  there  are  plainly  to  be 
seen  in  the  Bible  innumerable  literary  beauties. 
Besides  lofty  thoughts  and  noble  sentiments,  it 
abounds  in  felicities  of  diction,  it  sparkles  with  the 
richest  imagery,  is  replete  with  picturesque  descrip- 
tion, and  redolent  with  majestic  song;  while  its 
singularly-diversified  style  exhibits  the  amazing 
compass  and  flexibility  of  which  language,  as  at 
once  the  organ  and  ornament  of  thought,  is  capable. 
Nor  needs  this  surprise  us.  For  seeing  that  our 
human  conceptions  of  the  beautiful  admit  of  being 
worked  out  by  means  of  audible  as  well  as  of  visi- 
ble signs,  or  may  be  embodied  in  language  not  less 
than  in  form,  in  harmony  as  well  as  in  symmetry, 
we  must  necessarily  infer  that  the  divine  concep- 
tions of  the  beautiful  are  also  capable  of  being 
exhibited  in  both  ways.  We  see  the  one  in  the 
inimitable  statuary  and  landscape  painting  in  na- 
ture, which  so  conspicuously  attest  the  Divine  Art- 
ist. And  it  is  no  more  than  we  were  prepared  to 
expect,  that  an  inimitable  eloquence  in  the  Scrip- 
tures should  attest  the  Divine  Author. 

Seeing,  then,  there  are  the  beauties  of  language, 
and  the  attractions  of  literature  in  the  Bible,  must 
we  pass  them  by  unnoted  and  unadmired?     May 


THE    STUDY   OF   THE   BIBLE   LITEBATURE.  31 

the  naturalist,  by  the  use  of  his  microscope,  trace 
the  graceful  lineations  on  a  shell,  or  the  exquisite 
venations  on  the  fronds  of  a  fern,  so  as  to  reveal  to 
us  the  infinite  art  of  the  great  Creator  in  even  these, 
his  lesser  works;  and  must  the  critic,  though  he  has 
discovered  them  by  the  instrument  of  his  science, 
refrain  from  pointing  out  those  charming  niceties  of 
expression,  those  exquisite  snatches  of  poetry,  that 
rare  picturesqueness  of  description,  that  unrivaled 
style  of  imagery,  the  pathos,  sublimity,  and  beauty 
which,  not  to  speak  of  its  more  adorned  parts,  lie 
scattered  throughout  even  the  plainest  portions  of 
the  Bible?  Surely  this  may  not  be,  seeing  that 
creation  and  revelation,  each  in  its  own  way  a  per- 
fect exposition  of  the  beautiful,  the  graceful,  and 
the  grand,  are  alike  the  productions  of  the  same 
Author,  and  have  both  been  produced  with  the  like 
object  of  manifesting  his  perfections. 

V.  Our  fifth  and  last  arp;ument  in  enforcinc^  the 
study  of  Biblical  literature  is  founded  upon  the 
desirableness  of  getting  minds  of  every  cast  brought 
into  actual  contact  with  the  sacred  pages.  For  we 
should  deem  it  a  most  beneficial  achievement  if 
those  of  literary  tastes  and  pursuits  were  got  to 
peruse  the  Bible,  were  it  even  only  for  the  sake  of 
its  literature.  They  would  no  doubt  be  doing  it  an 
injustice  thus  to  bring  it  down  from  its  own  loftier 
pedestal;  still  if  they  are  got  to  read  the  Book  of 
God,  who  shall  say  that  the  result  might  not  be  that 
its  higher  beauties  would  break  in  upon  them?  that, 


32        LrrERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE  BIBLE. 

admiring  its  literature  none  the  lesi,  tliey  might  be 
awakened  to  an  admiration  of  its  divine  excellences. 
We  know  that  some  who  approached  the  Bible  with 
hostile  intentions  have  been  disarmed  of  their  hos- 
tility by  a  simple  perusal  of  its  contents.  And, 
therefore,  we  can  not  but  be  hopeful,  that  if  those 
who  are  not  inimical  to  it  could  only  be  lured  to  a 
daily  study  of  its  lesser  beauties,  they  would  erelong 
be  brought  to  feel  that  they  tread  holy  ground — 
that  the  robe  whose  embroidery  they  have  been 
admiring  clothes  celestial  truth — when,  lifting  their 
eyes  higher  than  the  mantle  she  wears,  they  might 
see  her  face  and  be  smitten  with  her  heavenly  love- 
liness. 

To  quote  the  words  of  Dr.  James  Hamilton — 
"God  made  the  Bible  as  the  guide  and  oracle  of 
man ;  but  had  he  meant  it  as.  a  mere  lesson-book  of 
duty,  a  volume  less  various  and  less  attractive  would 
have  answered  every  end.  A  few  plain  paragraphs 
announcing  God's  own  character,  and  his  disposition 
toward  us  sinners  here  on  earth,  mentioning  the 
provision  he  has  made  for  our  future  happiness,  and 
indicating  the  different  duties  which  he  would  have 
us  perform — a  few  simple  sentences  would  have  suf- 
ficed to  tell  what  God  is,  and  what  he  would  have 
us  do.  There  was  no  need  for  the  picturesque  nar- 
rative and  the  majestic  poem — no  need  for  the 
proverb,  the  story,  and  the  psalm.  A  chapter  of 
theology,  and  another  of  morals,  a  short  account  of 
the  incarnation  and  the  great  atonement,  and  a  few 


THE   STUDY  OF  THE  BIBLE   LITERATURE.  33 

pages  of  rules  and  directions  for  the  Christian  life, 
might  have  contained  the  practical  essence  of  Scrip- 
ture, and  have  supplied  us  with  a  Bible  of  simplest 
meaning  and  smallest  size.  And  in  that  c£ise  the 
Bible  would  have  been  consulted  only  by  those  rare 
and  wistful  spirits  to  whom  the  great  hereafter 
is  a  subject  of  anxiety,  who  are  really  anxious  to 
know  what  God  is,  and  how  themselves  may  please 
him. 

''  But  in  giving  that  Bible,  its  Divine  Author  had 
regard  to  the  mind  of  man.  He  knew  that  man 
has  more  curiosity  than  piety,  more  taste  than 
sanctity,  and  that  more  persons  are  anxious  to  hear 
some  new,  and  read  some  beauteous  thing,  than  to 
read  or  hear  about  God  and  the  great  salvation. 
He  knew  that  few  would  ever  ask.  What  must  I  do 
to  be  saved?  till  they  came  in  contact  with  the 
Bible  itself;  and,  therefore,  he  made  the  Bible  not 
only  an  instructive  book,  but  an  attractive  one — 
not  only  true  but  enticing.  He  filled  it  with  mar- 
velous incident,  and  engraving  history  with  sunny 
pictures  from  Old- World  scenery,  and  affecting 
anecdotes  from  the  patriarch  times.  He  replen- 
ished it  with  stately  argument  and  thrilling  verse, 
and  sprinkled  it  over  with  sententious  wisdom 
and  proverbial  pungency.  He  made  it  a  book  of 
lofty  thoughts  and  noble  images — a  book  of  heav- 
enly doctrine,  but  withal  of  earthly  adaptation.  In 
preparing  a  guide  to  immortality.  Infinite  Wisdom 
gave  not  a  dictionary  nor  a  grammar,  but  a  Bible; 


84        LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

a  book  which,  in  trying  to  catch  the  heart  of 
man,  should  captivate  his  taste;  and  which,  in 
transforming  his  affections,  should  also  expand  his 
in/iellect." 


THE   STYLE   OF   THE   SCRIPTURES.  35 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE   STYLE   OF   THE   SCRIPTURES. 

It  is  a  remark  of  Addison's,  tliat  there  is  as  much 
difference  between  comprehending  a  thought  clothed 
m  Cicero's  language,  and  that  of  an  ordinary  writer, 
as  between  seeing  an  object  by  the  light  of  the 
taper  and  the  light  of  the  sun.  Every  one  feels 
the  justice  of  this  remark;  yet  it  would  be  difficult 
exactly  to  specify  what  it  is  that  distinguishes  the 
style  of  Cicero  from  that  of  an  ordinary  writer. 
The  truth  being  that  while  the  broader  features  of 
a  style  are  easy  enough  to  be  distinguished;  as 
whether  it  is  a  loose  or  a  terse  style — laconic  or 
flowing — simple  or  ornate — vigorous  or  feeble — ^lofty 
or  familiar ;  the  various  minute  particulars  of  which 
the  style  is  made  up  are  extremely  difficult  to 
describe;  yet  each  of  which  adds  something  to  the 
aggregate  of  qualities  which  belong  to  them. 

It  is  with  style  as  with  those  odors  of  Nature's 
own  compounding,  when  having  gathered  together 
the  aromas  of  many  flowers,  she  drops  them  on  the 
breath  of  winds,  which  mixes  a  perfume  it  is  not 
easy  for  the  chemist's  art  to  analyze.  Strictly 
speaking,  style  does  not  include  the  thoughts;  and 
yet  we  should  err  in  saying  that  it  is  confined  to 


36        LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

the  mere  diction,  either  in  the  choice  or  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  words;  since  it  comprehends  whatever 
is  characteristic  or  peculiar  in  the  manner  in  which 
a  writer  presents  his  ideas.  We  may  not,  there- 
fore, separate  the  language  from  the  thoughts,  nor 
the  thoughts  from  the  language,  in  judging  of  style. 
It  has  indeed  been  said  of  words  that  they  are  the 
outward  dress  or  costume  of  our  thoughts;  but  in 
accepting  this  comparison,  it  ought  to  be  observed, 
that  our  words  clothe  our  ideas,  not  as  the  loose 
mantle  of  cloth  drapes  the  sculptor's  model,  but 
rather  as  the  chiseled  mantle  may  be  said  to  clothe 
the  finished  statue.  The  marble  bust  and  its 
marble  cincture  can  be  distinguished  the  one  from 
the  other,  but  not  separated;  for  the  latter  ad- 
heres to  and  forms  a  very  part  of  the  sculptured 
figure;  and  so  it  is  with  the  ideas  and  the  words  in 
style. 

But  while  it  is  thus  difiicult  to  analyze  the  vari- 
ous components  in  style,  our  critics  and  grammarians 
are  tolerably  agreed  as  to  what  are  the  principal 
requisites  in  a  good  style.  These  are,  purity,  per- 
spicuity, vigor,  harmony,  dignity,  and  beauty.  Now, 
■when  tried  by  this  standard,  the  stylos  of  the  Bib- 
lical writers  will  be  found  to  rank  very  high.  As 
was  to  be  expected,  among  some  forty  difi'erent 
authors,  there  is  considerable  diversity  and  degrees 
of  excellence.  For  it  has  pleased  the  Divine  Spirit 
to  employ  the  natural  style  of  each,  so  that  com- 
pared among  themselves  we  can  perceive  that  some 


THE   STYLE    OF   THE    SCRIPTURES.  37 

of  them  were  greater  masters  of  language  than 
others.  Yet  is  the  difference  as  among  the  orbs  of 
the  firmament,  in  which  "one  star  differeth  from 
another  star  in  glory."  For,  taking  them  as  a 
whole,  and  comparing  them  with  the  writers  of 
other  nations,  the  sacred  penmen  form  a  literary 
galaxy,  than  which  a  brighter  does  not  shine  in 
the  firmament  of  letters. 

To  justify  this  high  praise  which  I  have  chal- 
lenged for  the  sacred  writers,  it  does  not  seem 
necessary  that  I  should  attempt  a  critical  analysis  of 
their  respective  styles;  since  this,  even  were  I  equal 
to  the  task,  would  only  exhibit  their  merits  when 
compared  among  themselves.  It  will  be  sufficient 
if  I  indicate  the  general  excellences  which  will  be 
found  to  attach  to  them  all,  when  we  compare  them 
with  the  writers  of  other  nations.  Now  there  are 
two  conditions  which,  if  an  author  fulfills,  his  style 
merits  to  be  pronounced  good.  These  are:  if  he 
fully  displays  the  capabilities  and  resources  of  the 
language  in  which  he  writes;  and  if  his  style  is 
adapted  to  the  subject  of  which  he  treats.  The 
sacred  writers  have  fulfilled  both  these  conditions. 
For  in  the  first  place,  no  matter  what  his  individual 
style,  each  author  brings  out  to  a  surprising  extent 
the  capabilities  of  the  language  which  he  had  to 
employ  as  the  vehicle  of  his  thoughts.  Certainly  a 
more  favorable  exhibition  of  the  Hebrew  language 
could  not  be  desired,  than  is  to  be  found  in  the  Old 
Testament.      The    literati  of   Palestine  must   have 


38        LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE   BIBLE. 

felt  that  the  language  of  their  nation  had  ample 
justice  done  to  it  in  their  sacred  books;  and  how 
rarely  is  it  that  the  theological  works  among  a 
people  present  the  most  favorable  specimen  of  the 
language !  Then  with  regard  to  the  Greek  of  the 
New  Testament,  though  it  was  not  the  vernacular 
of  the  writers — and  they  had  not,  with  perhaps  the 
exception  of  Paul,  studied  its  classical  models — yet 
it  may  with  truth  be  affirmed  that  no  pen,  not 
Grecian,  had  ever  written  it  better,  if  so  well. 
Even  Demosthenes,  had  he  lived  to  read  the  pages 
of  the  Apostles,  must  have  confessed,  notwithstand- 
ing the  admixture  of  Hebraisms,  and  a  certain 
oriental  tincture,  that  the  language  which  he  him- 
self has  immortalized  was  not  disgraced  by  the 
pens  of  these  foreigners.  And  supposing  no  other 
specimens  to  have  come  down  to  us  than  what  the 
New  Testament  furnishes,  we  should  still  have  no 
mean  idea  of  the  amazing  compass,  the  marvelous 
flexibility,  the  discriminating  precision,  and  the 
euphonious  cadence  of  that  wonderful  language. 

Then,  in  the  second  place,  I  observe  that  the 
sacred  writers  have  shown  an  admirable  adaptation 
and  fitness  in  their  respective  styles  to  the  subjects 
of  which  they  have  severally  treated.  Thus  the 
style  of  Moses  and  Luke,  who  are,  par  excellence, 
the  sacred  historians,  is  precisely  the  style  we  look 
for  in  historic  composition.  The  style  of  David 
and  Isaiah — chief  among  the  sacred  poets — is  emi- 
nently poetical.     The  style  of  Solomon,  the  sacred 


THE   STYLE   OF   THE   SCRIPTURES.  39 

aphorist,  has  exactly  the  point,  terseness,  and 
antithesis  which  that  species  of  writing  requires. 
The  style  of  Paul,  who  is  confessedly  the  sacred 
logician,  is  just  the  style  for  argumentative  and 
expository  composition;  happily  relieved  at  times 
by  the  highest  efforts  of  the  rhetorician.  The  style 
of  Peter  singularly  fitted  him  for  the  epistolary,  to 
which  he  has  confined  himself.  The  same  happy 
adaptation  of  the  style  to  the  subject  is  observable 
in  all  the  other  sacred  writers.  The  instincts  of 
their  literary  tastes,  or  say,  rather,  these  directed 
by  the  Spirit  of  Inspiration,  guided  them  to  choose 
those  themes  which  they  were  best  fitted  to  adorn. 
So  that  this  rare  eulogium  may  be  passed  upon  a 
volume  which  is  the  joint  production  of  forty  differ- 
ent authors — that  there  is  not  a  single  alteration 
one  could  suggest  in  their  division  of  the  literary 
labor;  but  one  great  Presiding  Mind — and  need  I 
say  that  it  must  have  been  Divine — is  seen  to  have 
assigned  to  each  exactly  that  department  in  the 
work  which  he  was  best  fitted  to  perform.  Cer- 
tainly no  other  book  presents  so  broad  a  combina- 
tion of  diverse  talents  so  happily  assorted  and  so 
harmoniously  associated.  It  is  a  literary  constella- 
tion, where  every  star  is  in  its  proper  place,  and 
shines  with  its  appropriate  luster. 

Of  what  is  usually  understood  by  jim  writing ^ 
there  is  not  a  great  deal  to  be  found  in  the  Bible. 
But  this  needs  not  surprise  us;  for  with  men  who 
never  wrote  for  glory  or  display — who  forgot  them- 


• 


40        LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

selves  in  the  majesty  of  their  subject — whose  aim  was 
not  to  dazzle  or  astonish,  but  to  instruct  and  inform 
mankind — whose  souls  never  kindled  with  the  de- 
sire of  posthumous  renown,  and  who  had  no  leisure 
for  literary  revision;  with  such  men  rhetorical  em- 
bellishment was  incidental  rather  than  designed. 
But  when  instances  of  it  occur,  they  surpass  all  la- 
bored eloquence,  in  the  same  degree,  and  for  the 
same  reasons,  that  the  ease  of  nature  surpasses  the 
efforts  of  art. 

Some  of  Isaiah's  lyric  outbursts;  or  Job's  mag- 
nificent sketches,  dashed  off  with  a  master's  rapid 
hand;  or  David's  occasional  hymns,  written  with 
''the  pen  of  a  ready  writer,"  yet  seemingly  too 
slow  for  his  rushing  thoughts;  or  Paul's  extempo- 
raneous orations;  or  the  Savior's  own  unpremedi- 
tated discourses;  or  the  closing  apocalyptic  images 
of  John,  so  gorgeous  and  graphic,  but  which  the 
seer  seems  to  have  copied  with  hurried  touches,  as 
if  afraid  the  vision  might  dissolve  before  the  tran- 
script was  finished — these  will  serve  as  examples 
of  the  spontaneous  eloquence  which  is  to  be  met 
with  in  the  Scriptures.  It  comes  upon  us  like  the 
echoes  of  the  forest,  as  when  a  sudden  sun-burst  in- 
cites its  winged  choristers  to  mingle  their  notes;  or 
as  when  the  free  winds  rush  through  its  rustling 
boughs.  It  flashes  as  a  meteor;  but  not  like  it  to 
gleam  and  then  go  out  into  darkness. 

In  calling  the  eloquence  in  the  Bible  spontane- 
ous, I  am  reminded  what  years  of  labor  and  patient 


THE   STYLE   OF   THE   SCRIPTURES.  41 

revision  uninspired  genius  has  bestowed  upon  its 
choicest  productions;  and  also  how  much  the  desire 
of  fame  spurred  its  efforts,  while  the  hope  of 
posthumous  renown  sustained  them.  How  Demos- 
thenes, for  example,  composed  the  most  splendid 
oration  in  order  to  win  the  crown  of  eloquence — 
how  Isocrates  devoted  fifteen  years  to  his  celebrated 
panegyric — ^how  Pindar's  lyric  fire  fed  itself  in  the 
prospect  of  the  great  Olympic  gatherings — how  the 
Eoman  lyrist  predicts  for  himself  immortal  celeb- 
rity, the  hope  of  which  doubtless  had  made  his 
fastidious  muse  so  patient  in  revising  his  exquis- 
itely-finished odes — how  the  most  superb  of  modern 
historians  confesses  the  flutter  which  he  felt  when 
the  last  line  of  his  task  was  written,  and  he  thought 
that  perhaps  his  fame  was  established — or  how  even 
the  severe  Milton  has  left  on  record  that  he  was 
moved  to  compose  his  matchless  epics  by  the  hope 
that  he  might  achieve  something  which  posterity 
would  not  willingly  let  die — or  how  Scotland's 
plowman  bard,  as  if  smitten  with  a  noble  jealousy 
of  other  lands  which  had  been  immortalized  in  song, 
kindled  his  muse  with  the  hope  of  making  his  own 
Caledonia  also  a  land  of  the  classic  muse — 

"  We  '11  gar  our  streams  and  burnies  shine  up  wi'  the  best." 

Thus  spurred  by  the  hope  of  posthumous  celebrity, 
and  working  with  patient  labor,  the  orator  and  the 
poet  have  reared  some  exquisite  literary  monu- 
ments, which  we  do  not  hesitate  to  admire  any  the 

4 


42        LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE  BIBLE. 

less  because  it  took  so  much  time  and  patience  to 
rear  them.  Let  it  be  remembered,  then,  that  at 
one  instantaneous  stroke  the  sacred  authors  have 
supplied  eloquence,  and  poetry,  and  history  with 
some  of  their  most  splendid  models.  In  them  you 
find  the  eloquent  orator  without  Demosthenes'  la- 
bors— the  soul-stirring  poet  without  Pindar's  fervor 
kindled  by  expected  fame — the  accurate  historian 
without  Gibbon's  fastidious  "elaboration.  Oratory, 
poetry,  history,  flowed  spontaneous  from  their 
pens,  as  the  dew-drops  of  morning  fall  glittering  on 
the  flowers — neither  receiving  nor  requiring  the 
polish  of  labor  or  art. 

I  have  remarked  that  there  are  considerable  di- 
versities of  style  among  the  sacred  writers,  which 
is  owing  to  the  circumstance,  also  already  men- 
tioned, that  the  Divine  Spirit  saw  meet,  instead  of 
one  ideal  style,  to  employ  the  actual  styles  of  the 
several  writers.  Inspiration  was  no  mere  mechan- 
ical process,  as  when  the  organist  touches  the  sev- 
eral keys  of  his  instrument,  which  whatever  the 
melody  to  be  brought  out  are  ever  the  same,  and 
have  no  conscious  spontaneity  in  the  variation  of 
the  notes.  But  having  to  use  not  a  dead  but  liv- 
ing instrument,  the  spirit  so  touched  each  key  that 
it  gave  forth  its  own  spontaneous  and  individual 
sounds;  and  this,  so  far  from  being  a  blemish  im- 
parts one  of  its  most  striking  beauties  to  the  Bible, 
and  instead  of  lessening  greatly  increases  its  effect- 
iveness as  a  revelation  of  Divine  thouc^ht  in  human 


THE   STYLE   OF  THE   SCRIPTURES.  43 

language.  For  supposing  one  ideal  style  of  uniform 
exactness,  and  equality,  and  superexcellence  to  have 
been  selected,  then  how  monotonous,  how  mechan- 
ical, and  how  very  stiff — how  like  to  a  dead  instru- 
ment and  how  unlike  the  living  voice — would  the 
sacred  writings  have  been  !  Whereas  instead  of  this 
on  examining  the  styles  of  its  some  forty  different 
authors,  you  do  not  find  any  two  alike ;  but  each  is 
diverse  from  another,  every  one  of  them  marked  by 
strong  individuality,  having  all  the  force  and  fresh- 
ness of  an  original.  There  is  the  narrative  style  of 
Moses,  severely  simple  even  when  he  descants 
on  creation  and  chaos;  and  with  touches  of  the 
homely,  the  quaint,  and  the  antique  befitting  his 
times.  There  is  the  lyric  style  of  David,  which 
through  all  his  moods,  and  these  were  often  vary- 
ing, is  still,  ever  in  joy  or  sadness,  the  music-echoes 
of  the  same  harp  which  none  other  could  string  or 
touch  as  he.  There  is  the  sententious,  aphoristic 
styie  of  Solomon ;  the  fervid,  bold,  and  masculine 
style  of  Peter,  every  way  so  like  the  man  himself; 
the  brilliant,  burning  style  of  Isaiah,  as  if  fire- 
flashes  from  a  truly-poetic  soul;  the  simple  love- 
breathing  style  of  John  in  his  epistles,  but  rising, 
as  true  simplicity  and  tenderness  can  rise,  into  the 
sublime  in  his  apocalypse;  the  argumentative,  ellip- 
tical, parenthetic  style  of  Paul;  the  truly-dramatic 
style  of  Job;  the  oracular  style  of  Ezekiel;  the 
elegiac  style  of  Jeremiah,  whose  every  word  seems 
to  drop  tears  over  a  forlorn  land.     So  that,  instead 


44       LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE  BIBLE. 

of  monotony  or  mechanicalness,  there  is  all  the  flex- 
ibility, variety,  and  cadence  through  which  the  hu- 
man voice  can  rise  or  fall. 

Besides  the  differences  which  distinguish  the 
styles  of  the  several  writers,  there  is  often  great 
diversity  in  the  style  of  the  same  writer,  arising 
from  the  variety  of  subjects  which  he  discourses. 
For,  in  the  same  book,  we  shall  sometimes  find  his- 
tory, doctrine,  prediction,  poetry,  exhortation,  fervid 
expressions  of  devotion,  gratitude,  and  holy  desire. 
But  with  all  this  diversity  in  the  nature  and  object 
of  the  writings,  and  in  the  character  and  style  of 
the  writers,  one  great  and  common  manner  pervades 
the  whole,  which  may  be  regarded  as  the  style  of 
the  Scriptures,  since  it  is  peculiar  to  them,  and  not 
to  be  paralleled  by  any  other  writers.  Though  per- 
haps not  easy  to  be  described,  there  is  certainly  a 
characteristic  mark  which  enables  us  at  once  to  dis- 
tinguish the  sacred  authors.  With  great  diversity 
of  manner  and  expression  they  have  all  of  them  the 
features  of  one-  family,  diverse  from  any  other  which 
literature  presents. 

There  is  to  be  seen,  underlying  individual  differ- 
ences, the  same  peculiar  stamp,  easily  perceptible, 
though  perhaps  less  easy  to  be  described,  which 
marks  their  productions  to  be  of  heavenly  origin. 
This  is  due,  no  doubt,  in  great  measure  to  the 
unexampled  beauty  and  greatness  of  the  sentiment, 
which  again  is  to  be  traced  to  the  grandeur  of  the 
themes  which  in  common  tliev  discourse.     But  there 


THE  STYLE  OP  THE  SCRIPTURES.        45 

is,  besides,  an  excellence  whicli  belongs  to  the  writ- 
ers themselves,  which,  though  it  unites  with  the 
sentiment,  is  yet  distinct  from  it;  and  it  is  by  this 
excellence  that  the  writings  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments  are  specially  characterized. 

This  excellence,  as  I  have  already  remarked,  is 
not  easy  to  be  described.  It  is  the  result  of  a  com- 
bination of  qualities  which  a  critical  analysis  can 
only  so  far  resolve. 

Among  the  qualities  which  distinguish  the  in- 
spired penmen  in  common,  not  the  least  striking  is 
the  entire  absence  of  those  selfish  passions  and 
weaknesses  which  almost  always  appear  in  the  man- 
ner of  ordinary  writers.  The  sacred  authors  are  to 
themselves  as  nothing,  so  completely  does  their 
subject  absorb  them.  They  betray  not  the  least 
egotism,  either  open  or  concealed,  having  no  thought 
apparently  of  themselves  at  all.  In  one  of  the 
pseudo-inspired  books,  generally  known  as  the  Apoc- 
rypha, we  find  the  author  expressing  a  hope  that  if 
he  has  written  aught  amiss  the  reader  will  excuse 
him.  Any  thing  like  this,  so  common  with  ordi- 
nary writers,  is  not  to  be  found  in  any  of  the 
canonical  Scriptures.  The  idea  of  literary  reputa- 
tion, or  of  being  thought  well  of  as  authors,  seems 
never  once  to  have  crossed  the  minds  of  the  inspired 
penmen. 

Another  common  quality  which  distinguishes  the 
sacred  writers  is  their  extreme  simplicity  and  art- 
iessness.    We  see  no  artificial  painting;  no  desire  or 


46        LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE  BIBLE. 

effort  to  produce  effect.  Beauty,  great  and  varied, 
is  every-where  visible;  but  it  is  the  unstudied 
beauty  of  spontaneous  ease.  There  is  a  total  ab- 
sence of  every  tendency  to  exaggeration — never 
once  any  attempt  to  work  up  a  subject;  but,  instead, 
a  calmness  of  tone  prevails  throughout.  Not,  how- 
ever, the  calmness  of  indifference,  but  that  which 
arises  from  a  sense  of  the  innate  majesty  of  the 
subjects  which  they  handle.  In  no  other  writers 
will  w^e  find  an  equal  reliance  on  the  self-evidential 
power  of  purity  and  truth. 

Some  have  expressed  a  difficulty  to  admit  the 
Tkeopneustia  of  the  Scriptures,  in  consequence  of 
their  containing  some  inelegancies  of  style.  But, 
we  apprehend,  this  difficulty  very  much  arises  from 
their  forming  a  judgment  a  priori  as  to  what  would 
be  the  style  of  an  inspired  writing,  without  making 
due  account  of  the  actual  circumstances  in  which  it 
appeared,  and  the  practical  uses  which  it  is  intended 
to  answer.  We  are  free  to  own,  that,  judging  a 
priorij  and  going  upon  the  simple  idea  of  the  divin- 
ity of  the  book,  we  would  expect  to  find  its  style 
not  only  faultless,  but  altogether  superlative.  We 
should  not  be  prepared  to  find  in  it  occasional  inel- 
egancies of  expression ;  nor  solecisms  in  the  lan- 
•guage;  nor  sentences  which,  in  point  of  syntactical 
construction,  would  scarcely  bear  strict  criticism ; 
nor  passages  which,  in  respect  of  rhetorical  finish, 
might  certainly  be  improved.  We  say  that  an  a 
priori  judgment  would  not  prepare  us  to  meet  with 


THE   STYLE   OF   THE   SCRIPTURES.  47 

any  thing  of  this  sort  in  a  volume  which  is  inspired. 
But  in  the  Bible  such  things  are  to  be  met  with. 
Can  it,  then,  be  inspired? 

In  answering  this  question  I  shall  grant  that  it 
was  certainly  possible  to  the  Divine  Spirit,  even 
while  using  the  human  vehicle,  to  have  conveyed 
his  ideas  in  the  most  pure  and  perfect  phrase  that 
human  diction  could  afford;  and,  notwithstanding 
any  deficiencies  of  education  in  some  of  the  writers, 
to  have  worked  up  each  several  book  and  every 
single  passage  to  the  same  high  level  of  perfection. 
This  could  have  been  done;  and  thereby  the  style 
of  the  Scriptures  in  every  sentence  and  vocable 
have  been,  in  a  literary  point  of  view,  absolutely 
perfect.  But  now,  suppose  this  to  have  been  done, 
what  would  have  been  the  result? 

In  the  first  place,  a  primitive  Bible,  of  a  date  so 
early  as  the  age  of  the  Hebrew  fathers,  would  have 
been  either  impossible  or  useless.  Impossible,  if 
the  Divine  Spirit  was  to  employ  any  of  the  then 
existent  dialects,  which  were  as  yet  rough,  unfixed, 
and  unharmonious.  Useless  if,  anticipating  the  prog- 
ress of  language,  the  Divine  Spirit  had  employed 
a  purer  and  more  perfect  dialect  than  any  which 
yet  existed,  since,  in  that  case  it  could  not  have 
been  understood.  To  furnish  a  revelation  suitable 
to  these  early  times,  it  behooved  the  language  to  be 
such  as  was  then  in  general  use.  And  when  one 
reflects  for  a  moment  on  the  alternative — either  no 
Bible  at  all  till  at  least  the  Augustan  age  of  liter-  , 


48        LrrERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE  BIBLE. 

ature,  or  a  Bible  partly  composed  in  one  of  the 
early  vernacular  dialects — there  is  not  surely  room 
to  hesitate  which  was  to  be  preferred. 

But  now,  secondly,  will  the  reader  turn  aside 
with  us  for  a  moment  to  examine  the  sesthetical 
principles  on  which  another  work  of  God — the  nat- 
ural landscape — has  been  laid  out.  Within  any 
given  compass — say  a  forest,  or  a  sea-beach,  or  a 
mountain  range — individual  objects  are  to  be  seen 
which  certainly  might  be  more  beautiful;  but  then 
if  these  were  improved  it  would  be  at  the  expense 
of  the  combined  effect.  In  the  mountain  range,  for 
example,  there  are  jagged  inequalities,  bare  and 
unshapely  masses,  contorted  excrescences,  and  riven 
seams,  which  viewed  alone  no  one  would  think  of 
pronouncing  beautiful.  Yet  imagine  a  polished  range 
of  mountains — conceive  the  Alps  or  the  Andes  to 
be  blocked  out  in  exact  geometrical  curves,  with 
every  inequality  polished  away — tame  indeed  would 
be  the  landscape  then;  the  bald,  monotonous  pre- 
ciseness  ill  compensating  for  the  want  of  a  bold, 
picturesque  irregularity.  For  though  singly  not 
beautiful,  at  least  according  to  our  notions  of  beauty, 
yet  in  combination  these  contrasted  shapes  fill  up 
a  picture  which,  taken  as  an  entire  piece,  is  not 
merely  beautiful  but  sublime. 

Such  are  the  aesthetical  principles  on  which  the 
natural  landscape  is  laid  out.  Now  analogy  would 
lead  us  to  expect,  and  observation,  I  think,  will 
.^show,  that  the  Bible,  which  may  be  fitly  called  tho 


THE    STYLE    OF   THE   SCRIPTURES.  49 

spiritual  landscape,  has  been  laid  out  on  the  same 
principles.  As  in  nature  there  are  single  objects 
which,  viewed  apart,  might  certainly  be  more  beau- 
tiful, so  in  the  Bible  there  are  passages  of  which 
the  diction  might  have  been  more  felicitous — sen- 
tences which,  in  point  of  grammatical  construction, 
might  be  improved — solecisms  which  could  have 
been  avoided,  and  periods  which  might  have  been 
more  euphoniously  balanced.  But  had  these  been 
avoided,  by  every  part  being  worked  up  to  the  same 
high  level  of  such  perfectness  as  might  please  the 
grammarian  or  the  rhetorician,  there  would  have 
been  wanting  the  picturesqueness  of  contrast;  that 
harmony  which  occasional  discord  only  high  tens,  and 
that  higher  beauty,  which  slight  blemishes  rather 
enhance,  would  have  been  missed,  and  in  their  place 
we  should  have  had  a  bald  exactness,  a  tame  pre- 
cision, a  polished  monotony;  and  who  does  not  see 
that  the  Scriptures,  laid  out  after  this  fashion, 
would,  in  a  literary  point  of  view,  be  quite  as  tire- 
some, and  full  as  tame,  as,  in  an  artistic  point  of 
view,  would  be  a  landscape  whose  rivers  are  all  of 
equal  length,  breadth,  and  current;  its  valleys  all 
of  one  foliage  and  verdure;  its  mountains  all  of  the 
same  altitude,  contour,  and  stratification? 

And  how  is  it  that  the  Great  Artist  of  Nature 
can  thus  afford  to  paint  his  landscapes  so  much  on 
the  principle  of  contrast,  while  the  ordinary  artist 
does  not  risk  the  same  bold  treatment?    The  reason 

is  obvious.     The  ordinary  artist  paints  on  a  small 

5 


50        LITERART  CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE  BIBLE. 

scale,  having  to  fill  but  a  few  yards  of  canvas; 
whereas  the  Divine  Artist  works  on  a  grand  scale, 
his  pictures  being  so  vast  that  what  would  be  blem- 
ishes on  the  bit  of  canvas  serve  to  harmonize  and 
to  enhance  the  effect  of  the  more  beautiful  parts, 
when  the  eye  ranges  over  miles  of  landscape.  And 
just  so  it  is  that  the  Author  of  the  Bible,  in  com- 
posing a  book  so  marvelously  comprehensive,  can 
admit  inequalities,  having  room  and  verge  enough 
to  harmonize  them,  which  the  author  of  an  ordinary 
book,  confined  within  so  much  narrower  limits,  could 
not  with  safety  introduce;  and  thus  the  occasional 
inelegancies  in  its  style,  which  to  the  fastidious 
critic  might  seem  to  be  blemishes,  and  which  the 
mere  grammarian  might  set  down  as  faults,  are  to 
us  among  the  proofs  of  the  divinity  of  the  Bible. 
The  author  of  a  lesser  book  would  not  have  ven- 
tured, could  not,  indeed,  have  afibrded,  to  admit 
them;  but  in  God's  vast  book  they  high  ten  the 
general  efiect;  just  as  in  God's  vast  landscapes  the 
jagged  corners  of  the  riven  rock,  while  giving  pic- 
turesqueness  to  its  contour,  cause  the  wild  flowers 
which  creep  up  or  hang  over  its  uneven  spiracles 
to  look  still  more  beautiful. 


THE  FIGURATIVB  IN  SCRIPTURE.  51 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE  FIGURATIVE  IN  SCRIPTURE. 

The  term  figure,  in  its  ordinary  use,  signifies  the 
shape  or  form  of  any  piece  of  matter  which  distin- 
guishes it  from  other  pieces.  By  dropping  the  idea 
of  mere  shape  or  form,  and  retaining  that  of  dis- 
tinction, various  secondary  meanings  have  been 
attached  to  the  term  figure.  Those  persons  whom 
rank  in  life  or  political  influence  distinguish  from 
the  bulk  of  mankind,  are  said  to  be  men  of  figure; 
and  we  say  of  men  of  eminent  learning  or  shining 
parts,  or  of  the  authors  of  useful  discoveries  and 
inventions  in  arts  and  sciences,  that  they  will  make 
a  figure  in  their  country's  history.  Precisely  on  the 
same  principles  has  this  term  been  appropriated  in 
its  application  to  language.  Certain  forms  of  speech, 
as  possessing  more  mark  or  distinction  than  the  or- 
dinary form  of  expressing  the  same  thought,  have 
been  called  figures.  Hence  figurative  language  is 
opposed  to  plain,  ordinary,  or  literal  speech. 

When  we  say  'Hhe  parched  ground  absorbs  the 
rain"  we  express  a  familiar  fact  in  common  lan- 
guage; but  when  we  say  "the  thirsty  ground  drinks 
in  the  rain"  we  convey  the  same  fact  in  the  lan- 
guage of  figure.     To  call  youth  "the  early  part  of 


52       LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

life"  is  to  speak  literally;  to  call  youth  "the  morn- 
ing of  life"  is  to  express  ourselves  figuratively.  In 
both  the  examples  given  it  will  be  perceived  that 
certain  words  are  used  in  a  different  sense  from  that 
which  they  properly  signify;  being  changed,  or  as 
we  might  say,  turned  from  their  own  strict  proper 
meaning  to  another  which  has  been  suggested  by 
the  association  of  ideas.  Hence  a  figure  of  speech 
is  also  called  a  trope — in  Greek  rpoTtoi;,  from  rpsTzu)^ 
to  turn — and  this  change  is  made  for  the  sake  of 
giving  life,  beauty,  and  emphasis  to  the  thought. 

Although  it  has  been  the  business  of  the  gram- 
marians to  classify  and  give  names  to  the  various 
figures  of  speech,  as  well  as  to  lay  down  rules  for 
their  proper  management,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed 
that  it  was  the  work  of  the  grammarians  to  invent 
them.  Instead  of  an  artifice  of  rhetoric,  they  have 
their  origin  in  human  nature  itself;  and,  accord- 
ingly, were  in  use  long  before  rhetoric,  or  grammar, 
or  criticism,  had  been  heard  of. 

I  have  said  that  it  is  the  business  of  the  gram- 
marian or  critic  to  classify  the  figures  of  speech; 
but  their  attempts  toward  a  simple  and  exact  class- 
ification have  been  attended  only  with  partial  suc- 
cess; for  when  tropes  are  divided  into  figures  of 
language  and  figures  of  thought,  a  basis  of  classifi- 
cation is  assumed  which  is  itself  shifting;  since 
language  and  thought  often  so  run  into  each  other, 
that  it  were  impossible  to  say  by  which  of  them 
more  than  the  other  the  efiect  is  produced.     A  bet- 


THE  FIGURATIVE  IN   SCRIPTURE.  53 

ter  division  is  into  figures  of  the  imagination  and 
figures  of  the  passions;  although  here,  also,  the 
basis  of  classification  will  be  found  to  be  a  variable 
line;  for  although  in  themselves  distinct,  when  are 
the  imagination  and  the  passions  in  their  hightened 
workings  ever  entirely  separate? 

Fortunately  it  is  not  necessary  that  I  should 
classify  the  figures  of  speech,  my  task  merely  re- 
quiring me  to  show  that  the  principal  ones,  at  least, 
are  to  be  found  in  the  Bible,  and  that  when  any 
one  of  these  is  introduced,  this  is  done  with  pro- 
priety, both  as  respects  the  treatment  of  the  figure 
itself,  and  the  elucidation  or  enrichment  of  the 
thought  which  is  figuratively  expressed. 

Did  I  deem  it  deserving  the  necessary  space  on 
these  pages,  it  would  be  easy  to  show  that  there  is 
not  any  considerable  figure  or  trope  recognized  by 
the  grammarians,  of  which  examples  may  not  be 
selected  from  the  sacred  writings.  We  shall  find  in 
them  the  comparison,  the  metaphor,  the  allegory, 
the  hyperbole,  the  interrogation,  the  antithesis,  the 
climax,  the  ellipsis,  the  prosopopoeia  or  personifica- 
tion, the  apostrophe;  as  also  pleonasm,  exclamation, 
inversion,  metonymy,  prolepsis,  vision,  catachresis, 
synecdoche,  irony,  antonomasy.  But  I  do  not  see 
that  it  would  serve  a  material  purpose  to  give  a 
mere  string  of  specimens  of  this  long  catalogue  of 
figures.  A  preferable  course  seems  to  be  to  make  a 
selection,  thus  leaving  sufficient  space  for  some  re- 
marks on  the  nature  of  the  figures  themselves,  and 


54        LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE   BIBLE. 

also  on  the  skill  which  the  sacred  writers  so  notably 
exhibited  in  the  management  of  the  figures.  For 
this  purpose  I  shall  select  the  comparison — on  which, 
as  being  the  most  frequent,  I  shall  somewhat  en- 
large— the  metaphor,  the  allegory,  the  climax,  the 
hyperbole,  the  prosopopoeia  or  personification,  and 
the  apostrophe. 

COMPARISON. 

Every  object  which  makes  any  considerable  im- 
pression on  the  mind  is  constantly  accompanied  by 
certain  circumstances  and  relations,  which  strike  us 
at  the  same  time;  so  that  an  object  seldom,  if  in- 
deed ever,  presents  itself  to  our  view,  except  as 
related  to  other  objects — as  going  before  them  or 
following  them — as  their  cause  or  their  effect — as 
resembling  them  or  opposed  to  them.  By  this  means 
any  idea  which  a  single  object  suggests  may  be  said 
to  carry  in  its  train  a  group  of  other  ideas,  drawn 
after  it  by  the  force  of  association.  And  it  may  so 
happen  that  these  attendant  or  associated  ideas 
strike  the  imagination  more  forcibly  than  the  prin- 
cipal idea  itself.  They  are  perhaps  more  agreeable ; 
or  they  are  more  familiar ;  or  they  recall  to  our  mem- 
ory a  greater  variety  of  important  circumstances. 
This  propension  in  the  human  mind  to  compare  and 
contrast  objects  arises  from  an  original  law  in  its  con- 
stitution, and  is  called  into  constant  exercise  by  the 
system  of  nature,  which  is  that  of  unity  in  variety; 
it  being  rare  indeed,  if  in  the  midst  of  numerous  re- 


THE  FIGURATIVE   IN  SCRIPTURE.  55 

semblances  we  do  not  discover  some  diversity,  and 
among  manifold  diversities  some  resemblance.  Thus 
does  nature  at  once  delight  and  instruct  us,  by  fur- 
nishing ample  materials  on  which  we  can  exercise  our 
faculty  of  comparison.  And  if  a  writer  expects  to 
impart  pleasure  and  instruction  to  his  readers,  he 
must  imitate  nature — that  is,  he  must  make  free 
use  of  similitudes. 

How  agreeably  a  judicious  use  of  comparisons 
assists  an  author,  in  giving  both  brilliance  and  per- 
spicuity to  his  pages,  is  easy  to  be  seen.  Suppose 
he  wishes  to  embellish  an  object,  instead  of  present- 
ing it  nakedly  by  itself,  he  will  do  better  to  compare 
it  to  some  other  object  which  is  known  to  be  beau- 
tiful, when  the  imagination  will  at  once  transfer  the 
impression  of  beauty  from  the  subsidiary  to  the  pri- 
mary object.  Or  suppose  his  design  is  to  illustrate 
or  throw  light  upon  an  object  which  is  more  or 
less  obscure;  if  he  compare  it  with  another  object 
which  is  familiar,  the  imagination  at  once  transfers 
the  impression  of  perspicuity  from  the  subsidiary  to 
the  principal  object.  Or  suppose  his  desire  is  to  am- 
plify an  object;  in  this  case,  instead  of  laboring  to 
expand  it,  he  will  often  accomplish  his  purpose  at  a 
single  stroke  by  comparing  it  with  another  object 
whose  magnitude  is  already  known.  Or  suppose  he 
wishes  to  rivet  an  object  on  the  memory;  by  using 
a  comparison  he  may  succeed  in  fixing  it,  so  to  speak, 
by  two  bolts  instead  of  one.  Thus  it  will  appear 
how  greatly  similes  assist  to  embellish,  to  illustrate, 


56        LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

to  amplify  and  fix  our  ideas;  and  therefore  to  im- 
part beauty,  perspicuity,  grandeur,  and  force  to  the 
language  in  which  we  clothe  them. 

Of  Biblical  comparisons  it  were  almost  useless  to 
give  examples;  for  they  are  so  very  numerous  as  to 
be  found  almost  on  every  page.  Not  more  thickly 
are  the  flowers,  and  leaves,  and  grass-blades  at  early 
morn  beaded  with  dew-drops,  than  are  the  sacred 
writings  adorned  with  these  beauties  of  figurative 
language.  Nor  are  the  Bible  comparisons  less  va- 
rious than  they  are  numerous,  being  drawn  from 
every  conceivable  source,  and  ranging  from  objects 
the  very  simplest  to  the  most  sublime.  In  truth, 
there  is  no  department  of  universal  nature  which 
has  not  been  laid  under  tribute  to  enrich  the  collec- 
tion. The  lofty  movements  of  the  heavenly  bodies; 
the  stately  march  of  the  seasons,  and  the  rapid  suc- 
cession of  day  and  night;  the  mighty  ocean  of 
waters,  and  the  minute  dew-drops;  the  pastoral 
landscape  browsed  by  peaceful  flocks,  and  the  arid 
wilderness  with  its  roving  herds  and  nomadic  hordes; 
the  cloud-capt  mountains  and  the  lowly  vales; 
the  tempest  and  the  calm;  every  variety  of  tho 
vegetable  tribes;  the  treasures  of  the  mines;  the 
sunshine,  the  rains,  the  winds,  and  the  fleecy  clouds; 
the  elements  and  the  elemental  phenomena;  the 
habits  and  instincts  of  animals,  both  wild  and  do- 
mestic; agriculture;  the  arts  and  handicraft  occupa- 
tions; the  battle-field  and  the  tented  camp;  the 
most  familiar  pictures  of  domestic  life;  the  palaces 


THE  FIGURATIVE  IN  SCRIPTURE.  57 

of  warrior  kings,  and  the  tents  of  shepherd  sires; 
in  a  word,  from  the  heavens  above,  and  from 
the  earth  below,  and  from  the  waters  under  the 
earth,  the  sacred  penmen  have  drawn  their  com- 
parisons. 

Nor  is  it  only  from  the  objects  in  nature  the  in- 
spired writers  have  drawn  their  comparisons.  The 
incidents  of  sacred  history  have  also  enabled  them 
to  enrich  their  imagery  with  figures  of  amazing 
grandeur.  For  the  order  of  topics  which  commonly 
furnish  them  are  of  a  high  caste ;  such  as  the  chaos 
and  creation;  the  deluge;  the  destruction  of  Sod- 
om; the  Exodus  of  the  Israelites  from  Egypt,  and 
their  pilgrimage  through  the  desert;  the  descent  of 
God  upon  Mount  Sinai,  at  the  promulgation  of 
the  law.  Though  from  us  the  distance  of  time  and 
place  has  removed  these  events  into  the  dimness  of  a 
remote  antiquity,  so  as  of  necessity  to  render  them 
less  interesting  than  they  were  to  the  Hebrews, 
whose  epoch  all  but  touched  the  oldest  of  them,  and 
with  whose  own  history  others  of  them  were  actu- 
ally interwoven;  yet  we  can  not  fail  to  perceive  the 
force,  the  sublimity,  and  splendor  of  these  histor- 
ical similitudes.  Then  also  the  peculiar  ritualism  of 
the  Hebrews,  in  itself  so  imposing  and  picturesque, 
has  supplied  another  rich  source  of  comparison. 
One  example,  as  being  exceedingly  fine,  may  be  here 
cited :  "  Behold,  how  good  and  how  pleasant  it  is 
for  brethren  to  dwell  together  in  unity!  It  is  like 
the  precious  ointment  on  the   head,  that  ran  down 


58        LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

upon  the  beard,  even  Aaron's  beard,  that  went  down 
to  the  skirts  of  his  garments."  Ps.  cxxxiii.  Then 
also  the  geographical  aspects  of  Palestine,  which  are 
of  a  kind  so  peculiar  and  impressive,  suggested 
manifold  local  comparisons,  which  have  a  strikingly- 
picturesque  effect.  There  is  a  liveliness  in  these 
topographical  similes  which  does  not  fail  to  convey 
a  hightened  pleasure,  though  we  who  read  them 
may  never  have  seen  the  localities  which  are  re- 
ferred to. 

It  has  been  urged  as  an  objection  against  some 
of  the  comparisons  in  the  Scriptures,  that  they  are 
strained  and  far-fetched,  being  founded  on  slight 
and  distant  resemblances.  This  objection,  we  ven- 
ture to  say,  is  without  foundation  as  respects  the 
later  sacred  books.  In  those  of  an  earlier  date 
there  may  occasionally  occur  a  comparison  which, 
to  modern  taste,  will  seem  to  be  carried  beyond 
moderation.  But  in  this  respect  the  Scriptures 
only  follow  a  universal  law  of  mental  development; 
for  when  a  nation  emerged  out  of  barbarism  begins 
to  think  of  the  fine  arts,  and  of  the  93sthetical  in 
nature,  the  beauties  of  language  can  not  long  lie 
concealed;  and  when  discovered  they  are  generally, 
by  the  force  of  novelty,  carried  to  excess.  The 
imagination  for  a  time  riots,  as  it  were,  in  a  new 
region  of  pleasing  ideas.  Hence  in  the  early  poetry 
of  every  nation  we  find  metaphors  and  similes 
founded  on  what  appear  to  us  slight  and  distant 
resemblances;   but  which,  ere  they  had  lost  their 


THE  FIGURATIVE   IN   SCRIPTURE.  59 

novelty,  would  appear  to  be  quite  natural  and  appo- 
site. 

Perhaps  of  all  the  sacred  books  the  Song  of  Sol- 
omon is  the  one  against  which  the  objection  of 
extravagant  similes  might  be  brought  with  the 
most  show  of  reason;  but  with  regard  to  this 
remarkable  composition,  besides  the  explanation 
already  offered,  it  ought  to  be  kept  in  view  that 
without  a  certain  air  of  extravagance  it  could  not 
be  what  it  professes — a  song  of  love.  I  -venture  to 
say  that  when  the  effect  of  this  passion  on  the  imag- 
ination is  allowed  for,  the  comparisons  employed  by 
Solomon  will  be  acknowledged  to  be  in  strictest 
accordance  with  human  nature.  The. reader  mayi 
turn  for  a  specimen  to  the  fourth  chapter,  verses 
one  to  five.  Were  this  a  mere  description  of  female 
beauty  from  the  poet's  pen,  I  know  not  how  I  could 
defend  it  fi'om  the  charge  of  extravagance.  But  it 
is  not  as  a  poet  merely,  but  likewise  as  a  lover, 
that  Solomon  here  describes  the  object  of  his  affec- 
tion; giving  free  utterance,  as  lovers  will  do,  to 
those  fervid  images  of  the  imagination,  which  the 
passion  of  the  lover  never  fails  to  kindle.  Making 
allowance  for  a  certain  Oriental  tincture  in  his 
imagery,  the  poet  will  be  found  throughout  this 
divine  song  to  have  exhibited  with  consummate 
skill  the  workings  of  the  universal  passion;  and 
thus  to  have  laid  a  correct  foundation  in  the  nat- 
ural for  that  spiritual  love  which  it  is  his  object  to 
celebrate. 


60        LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE   BIBLE. 

It  has  also  been  objected  to  the  Bible  compari- 
sons, that  many  of  them  are  so  homely  and  familiar; 
but,  for  our  own  part,  we  take  this  to  be  one  of 
their  chief  .merits.  For  when  the  object  of  a  writer 
is  not  so  much  elegance  as  lucidity,  when  he  seeks 
rather  to  illustrate  and  make  plain  than  to  aggrand- 
ize and  ornament  his  subject,  the  more  familiar  his 
similes  are  the  better.  Now,  the  design  of  the 
sacred  writers  being  to  simplify  truth  for  the  masses, 
they  have  shown  admirable  judgment  in  using  plen- 
tifully this  class  of  illustrations;  and  yet,  though 
the  objects  employed  by  them  are  thus  necessarily 
of  a  very  homely  kind,  such  as,  in  less  skillful 
hands,  migl^t  impart  an  appearance  of  lowness  and 
vulgarity  to  the  subjects  illustrated,  we  do  not  find 
this  to  be  the  case.  For  even  when  their  compari- 
sons are  taken  from  the  most  insignificant  objects, 
the  sacred  writers  still  sustain  the  full  dignity  of 
their  themes.  I  shall  show  this  by  giving  a  few 
examples.  One  could  scarcely  seek  out  a  more 
homely  or  trivial  object  than  a  barn  or  a  thrashing- 
floor.  Yet  how  forcibly  and  dignified  are  the  fol- 
lowing similes:  ''Behold,  I  will  make  thee  a  new 
sharp  thrashing  instrument  having  teeth;  thou  shalt 
thrash  the  mountains,  and  beat  them  small,  and 
shall  make  the  hills  as  chaff";  thou  shalt  fan  them, 
and  the  wind  shall  carry  them  away,  and  the  whirl- 
wind shall  scatter  them."  Is.  xli,  15,  16.  "Make 
their  nobles  like  Oreb  and  like  Zeeb;  yea,  all  their 
princes  like  Zebah,  and  as  Zalmunna:  0  my  God, 


THE   FIGURATIVE   IN   SCRIPTURE.  61 

make  them  like  a  wheel;  as  the  stubble  before  the 
wind."  Ps.  Ixxxiii,  11,  13.  Again,  what  could  be 
a  less  poetical  scene,  bordering  as  it  does  on  the 
ludicrous,  than  a  company  of  fig  gatherers  shaking 
the  loaded  branches,  and  as  a  feat  of  dexterity 
catching  in  their  mouths  some  of  the  figs  as  they 
fall?  yet  out  of  this  scene  the  prophet  Nahum  in 
predicting  the  doom  of  Nineveh  works  a  highly- 
poetic  simile:  "All  thy  strongholds  shall  be  like 
fig-trees  with  the  first  ripe  figs;  if  they  be  shaken 
they  shall  even  fall  into  the  mouth  of  the  eater." 
Nah.  iii,  12.  Or,  again,  the  common-place  idea  of 
a  few  school-boys  gone  out  a  bird-nesting  supplies 
Isaiah  with  a  comparison  of  great  energy,  which  he 
puts  into  the  mouth  of  the  Assyrian  conqueror 
boasting  his  victories:  ''And  my  hand  hath  found 
as  a  nest  the  riches  of  the  people;  and  as  one 
gathereth  eggs  that  are  left,  have  I  gathered  all 
the  earth;  and  there  was  none  that  moved  the 
wing,  or  opened  the  mouth,  or  peeped."  Is.  x,  14. 
Again,  how  homely  an  object  is  the  mother-hen 
shielding  her  frightened  brood  under  her  wings  on 
the  approach  of  danger;  yet  how  pathetic,  even 
sublime  a  comparison  has  this  furnished  to  the 
Savior:  ''0  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  which  killest  the 
prophets,  and  stonest  them  which  are  sent  unto 
thee,  how 'often  would  I  have  gathered  thy  children 
together,  even  as  a  hen  gathereth  her  chickens 
under  her  wings  and  ye  would  not!"  Matt,  xxiii, 
37.     Or,  again,  what  more  homely  object  could  one 


62        LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OP  THE   BIBLE. 

look  on  than  a  handful  of  brushwood  set  to  blaze 
under  a  pot?  yet  how  forcibly  is  this  made  to 
represent  the  vanity  and  evanescence  of  boisterous 
mirth:  "As  the  cracking  of  thorns  under  a  pot,  so 
is  the  laughter  of  the  fool!"  Eccl.  vii,  6.  Or,  to 
give  one  other  example,  it  is  even  a  repulsive  object 
when  a  sow  bemires  itself  in  its  own  litter,  or  a 
dog  laps  its  own  vomit;  yet  how  skillfully  is  the 
very  repulsiveness  of  those  objects  made  to  set 
forth  the  sin  of  the  apostate:  "It  has  happened 
unto  him  according  to  the  true  proverb:  the  dog 
is  turned  to  his  own  vomit  again;  and  the  sow 
that  was  washed  to  her  wallowing  in  the  mire." 
2  Pet.  ii,  22. 

Nor  are  the  sacred  writers  singular  in  their  use 
of  homely  objects  to  illustrate  subjects  of  a  lofty 
cast.  The  same  thing  has  been  done  by  the  great 
epic  poets,  both  ancient  and  modern.  Thus  Homer 
compares  the  Grecians  crowding  to  the  council  from 
their  ships  and  tents  to  a  swarm  of  bees  among 
the  vernal  flowers.  Virgil  employs  the  same  com- 
parison to  set  forth  the  innumerable  nations  and 
people  which  crowded  the  shores  of  Lethe.  Milton 
likewise  has  used  the  same  comparison  to  represent 
the  gathering  of  the  fallen  angels  to  Pandemonium. 
Homer  has  ventured  on  a  still  more  homely  simile, 
where  he  compares  the  numbers  of  the  Grecian  army, 
their  ardor  and  eagerness  for  battle,  to  swarms  of 
flies  buzzing  round  a  milk-pail.  Nor  have  the  critics 
pretended  that,    by  such  comparisons,   these  great 


THE   FIGURATrVT:   IN   SCRIPTURE.  63 

masters  of  simile  have  in  the  least  degraded  the 
dignity  of  the  Epic  muse. 

Seeing  that  so  many  of  the  Biblical  similitudes 
are  taken  from  natural  scenery  and  familiar  life,  in 
order  to  perceive  their  point  and  propriety  the 
reader  must  have  made  himself  acquainted  with 
the  social  habits  and  domestic  manners  in  the  East, 
as  also  with  the  physical  aspects  of  Palestine.  It 
does  not  surprise  us  that  certain  infidels  have  ridi- 
culed some  of  the  Bible  comparisons  as  obscure, 
pointless,  and  out  of  proportion,  when  they  show 
themselves  to  be  so  insufficiently  informed  on  the 
subjects  mentioned.  A  little  less  ignorance  would 
have  caused  them  to  spare  their  ridicule. 

I  may  not  close  these  brief  remarks  on  the  com- 
parisons of  the  Bible  without  observing  how  keen 
an  insight  the  sacred  writers  must  have  had  into 
those  analogues  which  subsist  between  the  processes 
in  the  natural  and  the  spiritual  worlds;  and  how 
finely  they  have  illustrated  the  great  fact,  that  the 
invisible  is  adumbrated  or  symbolized  in  the  visible; 
and  that  Nature  is  God's  great  parable.  Doubtless 
their  peculiar  religious  training  practiced  them  in 
this  rare  art  of  deciphering  symbolical  resemblances ; 
for  their  entire  ritual  was  itself  a  matchless  sym- 
bolism— their  typology  was  a  system  of  pictorial 
analogies  or  parallels  addressed  to  the  eye — their 
history  and  their  chief  historical  personages  were 
typical.  And  well  did  they  profit  by  their  train- 
ing; for  there  is  scarce  any  natural  process  of  which 


64         LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

they  have  not  given  the  spiritual  correspondent  or 
analogue.  The  alternation  of  day  and  night — the 
succession  of  the  seasons  and  the  seasonal  phenomena 
of  the  year — the  action  of  the  elements — the  forma- 
tion of  hail  and  snow,  and  the  deposition  of  dew — 
the  processes  of  vegetation — the  functions  of  animal 
life — the  fluxes  of  the  ocean — the  aspects  of  the 
heaven"^:  have  all  been  translated  into  their  spirit- 
ual forms  and  significations.  One  is  reminded  of 
Svvedenborg's  doctrine  of  representations  and  cor- 
respondences. But  on  comparing  the  symbolism  of 
these  ''holy  men  of  old"  with  the  symbolism  of  the 
modern  mystic,  how  striking  is  the  contrast!  In 
them  all  is  sobriety,  decorum,  and  intelligibility ;  the 
material  universe  is  not  sublimed  away,  nor  is  the 
spiritual  materialized.  But  he  is  ever  extravagant, 
fanciful,  and  grotesque — darkening  truth  by  the 
very  excess  of  his  symbolic  light — professing  to 
have  perceived  higher  meanings,  where  evidently 
he  had  failed  to  perceive  the  lower,  and  covering 
the  face  of  Nature  with  his  riddle-writing  till  it 
looks  like  some  Egyptian  obelisk,  one  mass  of  hier- 
oglyphs. 


THE   FiaURATIVE   E^  SCRIPTURE.  65 


CHAPTER    lY. 

THE  FIGURATIVE  IN  SCRIPTURE-CONTINUED. 
METAPHOB. 

The  metaphor  differs  from  the  comparison  simply 
in  this  respect:  that  while,  in  the  latter,  certain 
words  or  signs  are  used  to  denote  that  a  similitude 
is  intended,  as  when  we  say  the  soldiers  fought  like 
lions,  in  the  former  the  sign  or  formula  of  compari- 
son is  dropped,  and  instead  of  one  thing  being  resem- 
bled to  another,  the  aid  of  the  imagination  is  carried 
a  degree  further,  one  thing  being  figured  or  feigned 
to  be  another,  as  when  we  say  the  soldiers  were 
lions  in  combat.  The  metaphor,  therefore,  is  a^ 
abbreviated  and  also  a  bolder  form  of  the  compar- 
ison. 

This  figure  is  frequently  used  by  the  Scriptural 
writers;  and  while  many  of  the  examples  are  ex- 
ceedingly bold  and  imaginative,  they  are  introduced 
in  the  most  natural  manner,  and  on  the  most  suit- 
able occasions.  The  following  may  sujfice  as  speci- 
mens: ''Joseph  is  a  fruitful  bough,  even  a  fruitful 
bough  by  a  well."  Gen.  xlix,  22.  "  The  Lord  is  a 
man  of  war."  Exod.  xv,  3.  ''  The  Lord  is  my 
shepherd,  I  shall  not  want."  Ps.  xxiii,  1.  "For 
the  Lord  God  is  a  sun  and  shield."     Ps.  Ixxxiv,  11. 

''I  am  the  rose  of  Sharon,  and  the  lilv  of  the  val- 

6 


66        LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

leys."  Cant,  ii,  1.  ''And  he  said  unto  them,  Go 
ye  and  tell  that  fox."  Luke  xiii,  32.  "And  he 
took  bread,  and  gave  thanks,  and  brake  it,  and 
gave  it  unto  them,  saying.  This  is  my  body  which 
is  given  for  you:  this  do  in  remembrance  of  me. 
Likewise  also  the  cup  after  supper,  saying.  This 
cup  is  the  new  testament  in  my  blood,  which  is 
shed  for  you."  Luke  xxii,  19-20.  "I  am  the  true 
vine,  and  my  Father  is  the  husbandman.  Every 
branch  in  me  that  beareth  not  fruit  he  taketh  away ; 
and  every  branch  that  beareth  fruit  he  purgeth  it, 
that  it  may  bring  forth  more  fruit.  I  am  the  vine, 
ye  are  the  branches;  he  that  abideth  in  me,  and  I 
in  him,  the  same  bringeth  forth  much  fruit.  John 
XV,  1,  2,  5.  ''And  did  all  drink  the  same  spiritual 
drink;  for  they  drank  of  that  spiritual  Eock  that 
followed  them;  and  that  Kock  was  Christ."  1  Cor. 
X,  4. 

ALLEGORY. 

By  some  of  the  grammarians  the  allegory  has 
been  regarded  as  a  continued  metaphor;  but  others, 
we  think  more  correctly,  consider  them  to  be  not 
only  distinct,  but  different  figures.  In  the  meta- 
phor, as  we  have  seen,  there  is  a  fiction  of  the  im- 
agination, by  which  one  thing  is  feigned  to  be 
another;  in  the  allegory  there  is  not  this  fiction, 
but  a  subject  is  chosen  having  properties  or  circum- 
stances resembling  those  of  the  principal  subject, 
and  is  described  in  such  a  manner  as  to  represent 
it.     There  is  this  other  difference  in  the  metaphor. 


THE   FIGURATIVE   IN   SCRIPTURE.  67 

the  principal  object  is  first  mentioned  before  tlie 
subsidiary  object  is  introduced;  and  tbe  transition 
of  thought  is  thus  from  the  former  to  the  latter. 
In  the  allegory  the  process  is  reversed;  for  while 
the  subsidiary  or  representative  object  is  described 
in  terms  suitable  to  its  nature,  the  subject  which  it 
is  meant  to  represent  is  kept  out  of  view,  and  we 
are  left  to  discover  it  by  reflection.  In  the  meta- 
phor the  writer  points  out  the  resemblance;  in  the 
allegory  the  reader  is  left  to  discover  the  resem- 
blance for  himself,  and  by  means  of  it  the  object 
intended. 

The  allegory  affords  ample  scope  to  the  descrip- 
tive as  well  as  the  imaginative  powers  of  a  writer; 
being,  in  fact,  the  most  pictorial  of  all  the  figures. 
It  has  been  likened  to  a  hieroglyphic  painting, 
excepting  only  that  words  are  used  instead  of  colors. 
Or  we  might  call  it  a  type  or  emblem,  by  means  of 
vocal  in  place  of  visible  symbols. 

Of  the  allegory  a  fine  example  is  to  be  found  in 
the  80th  Psalm:  ''Thou  hast  brought  a  vine  out 
of  Egypt;  thou  hast  cast  out  the  heathen,  and 
planted  it.  Thou  preparedst  room  before  it,  and 
didst  cause  it  to  take  deep  root,  and  it  filled  the 
land.  The  hills  were  covered  with  the  shadow  of 
it,  and  the  boughs  thereof  were  like  the  goodly 
cedars.  She  sent  out  her  boughs  unto  the  sea,  and 
her  branches  unto  the  river.  Why  hast  thou  then 
broken  down  her  hedges,  so  that  all  they  which 
pass  by  the  way  do  pluck  her?     The  boar  out  of 


68        LITERARY  CnARACTERISTICS   OF    THE  BIBLE. 

the  wood  doth  waste  it,  and  the  wild  beast  of  the 
field  doth  devour  it.  Return,  we  beseech  thee,  0 
God  of  hosts :  look  down  from  heaven,  and  behold, 
and  visit  this  vine;  and  the  vineyard  which  thy 
right  hand  hath  planted,  and  the  branch  that  thou 
madest  strong  for  thyself.  It  is  burnt  with  fire;  it 
is  cut  down:  they  perish  at  the  rebuke  of  thy 
countenance !"     Ver.  8-16. 

Here  God's  chosen  people  are  represented  by  a 
vineyard;  and  the  figure  is  sustained  throughout 
with  great  correctness.  There  are  no  mixed  meta- 
phors; not  a  single  circumstance  is  introduced  that 
does  not  strictly  agree  to  a  vine ;  and  the  subsidiary 
subject  exactly  represents  the  state  of  the  Jewish 
Church,  which  is  the  principal  subject.  The  ampli- 
fication of  the  representative  object  from  a  single 
vine  into  a  vineyard  is  a  happy  stroke,  equally  true 
to  the  natural  history  of  the  plant,  and  correct  as 
an  illustration  of  the  social  progress  of  Israel. 

Another  fine  example  of  the  allegory  occurs  in  the 
5th  chapter  of  Isaiah :  "  Now  will  I  sing  to  my 
well-beloved  a  song  of  my  beloved  touching  his 
vineyard.  My  well-beloved  hatli  a  vineyard  in  a 
very  fruitful  hill:  and  he  fenced  it,  and  gathered 
out  the  stones  thereof,  and  planted  it  with  the 
choicest  vine,  and  built  a  tower  in  the  midst  of  it, 
and  also  made  a  wine-press  therein:  and  he  looked 
that  it  should  bring  forth  grapes,  and  it  brought 
forth  wild  grapes.  And  now,  0  inhabitants  of  Je- 
lusalem,   and    men    of   Judah,  judge,    I    pray   yon, 


THE   FIGURATIVE   IN  SCEIPTURE.  69 

betwixt  me  and  my  vineyard.  What  could  have 
been  done  more  to  my  vineyard  that  I  have  not 
done  in  it;  wherefore,  when  I  looked  that  it  should 
bring  forth  grapes,  brought  it  forth  wild  grapes? 
And  now  go  to;  I  will  tell  you  what  I  will  do  to 
my  vineyard :  I  will  take  away  the  hedge  thereof, 
and  it  shall  be  eaten  up;  and  break  down  the  wall 
thereof,  and  it  shall  be  trodden  down:  and  I  will 
lay  it  waste :  it  shall  not  be  pruned  nor  digged ;  but 
there  shall  come  up  briers  and  thorns:  I  will  also 
command  the  clouds  that  they  rain  no  rain  upon  it. 
For  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord  of  hosts  is  the  house 
of  Israel,  and  the  men  of  Judah  his  pleasant  plant: 
and  he  looked  for  judgment,  and  behold  oppression; 
for  righteousness,  and  behold  a  cry."  Ver.  1-7. 
Ae other  example,  perhaps  even  finer,  occurs  in  the 
12th  chapter  of  Ecclesiastes :  "Eemember  now  thy 
Creator  in  the  days  of  thy  youth,  while  the  evil 
days  come  not,  nor  the  years  draw  nigh,  when  thou 
shalt  say,  I  have  no  pleasure  in  them:  while  the 
sun,  or  the  light,  or  the  moon,  or  the  stars,  be  not 
darkened,  nor  the  clouds  return  after  the  rain:  in 
the  day  when  the  keepers  of  the  house  shall  tremble, 
and  the  strong  men  shall  bow  themselves,  and  the 
grinders  cease,  because  they  are  few,  and  those  that 
look  out  of  the  windows  be. darkened;  and  the  doors 
shall  be  shut  in  the  streets  when  the  sound  of  the 
grinding  is  low;  and  he  shall  rise  up  at  the  voice 
of  the  bird;  and  all  the  daughters  of  music  shall 
be  brought  low:    also  when  they  shall  be  afraid  of 


70        LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE  BIBLE. 

that  which  is  high,  and  fears  shall  be  in  the  way, 
and  the  almond- tree  shall  flourish,  and  the  grass- 
hopper shall  be  a  burden,  and  desire  shall  fail;  be- 
cause man  goeth  to  his  long  home,  and  the  mourners 
go  about  the  streets :  or  ever  the  silver  cord  be 
loosed,  or  the  golden  bowl  be  broken,  or  the  pitcher 
be  broken  at  the  fountain,  or  the  wheel  broken  at 
the  cistern :  then  shall  the  dust  return  to  the  earth 
as  it  was;  and  the  spirit  shall  return  unto  God  who 
gave  it."     Ver.  1-7. 

The  allegory  often  assumes  the  form  of  a  contin- 
ued narrative,  into  which  may  be  introduced  living 
beings,  in  any  variety  of  circumstance,  according  to 
the  fancy  and  design  of  the  writer.  Of  this  kind 
of  allegory  we  have  some  fine  examples  in  our  own 
language — the  Fairy  Queen  of  Spenser,  in  poetry; 
Bunyan's  Pilgrims  Progress,  and  the  Vision  of 
Mirza,  by  Addison,  in  prose.  Among  the  poetical 
books  of  Scripture  the  Song  of  Solomon  is  a  splen- 
did specimen  of  this  sort  of  allegorical  composition, 
throughout  which,  in  the  form  of  an  epithalamium, 
or  nuptial  poem,  the  love  between  Christ  and  his 
Church  is  beautifully  allegorized. 

As  being  of  a  kindred  nature,  we  may  fitly  con- 
sider the  parable  in  connection  with  the  allegory. 
Waving  certain  subsidiary  meanings  which  the  term 
occasionally  has  in  Scripture,  a  parable  may  be  de- 
fined, a  narrative,  either  fictitious  or  real,  under 
which  is  vailed  some  important  truth;  the  object  of 
the  writer  boing   to   convey  hi?  meaning  in  a  less 


THE   FIGUKATIVE  IN  SCRIPTUKE.  71 

offensive  or  more  engaging  form  than  that  of  direct 
assertion.  The  parable  may  be  considered  as  com- 
posed of  two  parts — the  protasis,  which  conveys 
merely  the  literal  sense,  and  the  apodosis,  which 
contains  the  mystical  or  figurative  sense.  It  is  not 
necessary,  however,  that  this  second  part  should  be 
always  expressed,  but  may  be  left  to  be  inferred. 
In  his  parables  the  Savior  frequently  omits  it. 

''The  excellence  of  a  parable  depends  on  the  pro- 
priety and  force  of  the  comparison  on  which  it  is 
founded,  or  the  general  fitness  and  harmony  of  its 
parts;  on  the  obviousness  of  its  main  scope  or  de- 
sign; on  the  beauty  and  conciseness  of  the  style  in 
which  it  is  expressed;  and  on  its  adaptation  to  the 
circumstances  and  capacities  of  the  hearers.  If  the 
illustration  is  drawn  from  an  object  obscure,  it  will 
throw  no  light  on  the  point  to  be  illustrated.  If 
the  resemblance  is  forced  and  inobvious,  the  mind 
is  perplexed  and  disappointed  in  seeking  for  it." 
TVe  remember  having  been  much  struck  by  an  ex- 
quisite piece  of  art  in  sculpture,  which  was  called 
"the  Vailed  Vestal."  Seen  at  a  distance,  the  head 
appeared  as  if  wrapped  in  a  thick  mass  of  folded 
marble;  but,  on  a  nearer  inspection,  so  exquisite 
was  the  chiseling,  that  under  the  solid  marble  every 
lineament  of  the  face  could  be  distinctly  traced; 
and  in  our  memory  that  virgin  countenance  dwells 
more  vividly  than  if  we  had  seen  it  without  its  vail 
of  solid  stone,  which  we  wondered  how  the  sculp- 
tor's art  could  render  so  entirely  transparent.     So 


72        LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

is  it  with  a  parable,  when  properly  constructed. 
Looked  at  from  a  distance,  so  to  say,  what  the 
reader  perceives  is  merely  the  outward  narrative 
or  story,  but  on  a  nearer  inspection,  beneath  this, 
as  through  the  marble  transparency  which  vailed 
without  concealing  the  vestal's  countenance,  he  dis- 
covers the  spiritual  truth,  which  is  all  the  more 
striking,  and  likely  to  dwell  longer  in  the  memory, 
because  he  has  had  to  seek  for  it  under  the  para- 
bolic style. 

In  the  Old  Testament  there  are  instances  of  the 
parable  which  are  not  wanting  in  any  excellence  be- 
longing to  this  species  of  composition.  What  can 
be  more  forcible,  more  apposite,  more  persuasive, 
and  more  beautiful  than  Jotham's  ''Parable  of  the 
Trees?"  Judges  ix,  7-15;  or  Nathan's  ''Parable 
of  the  Ewe  Lamb?"  2  Sam.  xii,  1-14;  or  Jehoash's 
"Parable  of  the  Thistle  and  the  Cedar?"  2  Kings 
xiv,  9-10;  or  Ezekiel's  "Parable  of  the  Lioness 
and  her  Whelps?"  Ezek.  xix,  1-9. 

But  the  parables  uttered  by  our  Savior  claim  pre- 
eminence over  all  others  on  account  of  their  num- 
ber, variety,  appositeness,  simplicity,  force,  and 
beauty.  Infidelity  itself  has  owned  its  admiration 
of  them ;  nor  will  the  most  ardent  admirer  of  clas- 
sic or  Oriental  literature,  rich  as  the  latter  is  in 
parabolic,  hesitate  to  admit  that  incomparably  su- 
perior to  any  thing  they  furnish  are  the  parables 
of  our  Lord.  Like  the  nymph  of  the  fountain  be- 
holding her  own  lovely  limbs  in  their  simple  attire 


THE  FIGURATIVE  IN  SCBIPTURE.  73 

reflected  in  the  liquid  mirror,  does  heavenly  truth 
behold  herself  reflected  in  these  exquisite  parables. 

CLIMAX. 

When  a  writer  becomes  full  of  his  subject,  it  will 
appear  to  magnify  itself,  and  increase  in  interest  as 
he  proceeds  in  his  statement  and  argument.  New 
ideas  rapidly  present  themselves  to  his  excited  im- 
agination, which,  unless  selected  and  arranged  with 
judgment,  would  have  the  efiect  of  over- crowding  his 
subject,  till,  as  is  the  case  with  a  mountain  which  is 
partially  concealed  by  the  clouds  itself  has  at- 
tracted, it  would  be  seen  shorn  of  its  dimensions. 
But  it  is  the  writer's  design  to  amplify  his  subject; 
therefore,  instead  of  promiscuously  crowding,  he 
marshals  his  ideas  in  line,  so  as  that  they  shall  rise 
in  succession  above  one  another,  bearing  with  accu- 
mulated force  and  with  a  magnifying  eff'ect  upon  the 
one  great  object.  This  sort  of  arrangement  is  called 
climax,  and  is  always  considered  as  a  beauty  in 
composition.  Its  eff'ect  is  to  communicate  to  his 
readers  a  measure  of  the  writer's  own  ardor,  and  of 
his  elevation  of  soul  in  view  of  his  subject — ex- 
pectation is  raised,  hope  is  stimulated,  we  are  dis- 
posed to  follow  him  in  the  ascent,  and  provided  it  is 
by  natural  gradations  he  leads  us  on,  instead  of  any 
feeling  of  distrust  or  weariness,  we  rather  yield  to 
a  pleasing  impatience  to  be  conducted  to  the  upper- 
most summit,  which,  having  reached,  the  successive 
bights  by  which  the  imagination  has  mounted,  pro- 


74        LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

duce  very  much  the  same  emotion  as  when,  standing  ' 
on  the  highest   point   in  some  Alpine  range,   one 
looks  down  upon  the  mountainous   steps  he  had  to 
climb  to  get  to  it. 

Examples  of  the  climax,  some  of  which  are  of 
great  force,  are  frequent  in  the  Scriptures.  I  shall 
cite  a  few. 

"But  where  shall  wisdom  be  found?  and  where  is 
the  place  of  understanding? 

Man  knoweth  not  the  price  thereof;  neither  is  it 
found  in  the  land  of  the  living. 

The  depth  saith,  It  is  not  in  me;  and  the  sea 
saith,  It  is  not  with  me. 

It  can  not  be  gotten  for  gold,  neither  shall  silver 
be  weighed  for  the  price  thereof. 

It  can  not  be  valued  with  the  gold  of  Ophir,  with 
the  precious  onyx,  or  the  sapphire. 

The  gold  and  the  crystal  can  not  equal  it;  and 
the  exchange  of  it  shall  not  be  for  jewels  or  fine 
gold. 

No  mention  shall  be  made  of  coral,  or  of  pearls; 
for  the  price  of  wisdom  is  above  rubies. 

The  topaz  of  Ethiopia  shall  not  equal  it,  neither 
shall  it  be  valued  with  pure  gold. 

Whence  then  cometh  wisdom?  and  where  is  the 
place  of  understanding? 

Seeing  it  is  hid  from  the  eyes  of  all  living,  and 
kept  close  from  the  fowls  of  the  air. 

Destruction  and  death  say,  We  have  heard  the 
fame  thereof  with  our  ears. 


THE  FIGURATIVE  IN  SCRIPTURE.  75 

God  understandeth  the  way  thereof,  and  he  know- 
eth  the  place  thereof."     Job  xxviii,  12-23. 

"  Whither  shall  I  go  from  thy  Spirit  ?  or  whither 
shall  I  flee  from  thy  presence  ? 

If  I  ascend  up  into  heaven  thou  art  there;  if  I 
make  my  bed  in  hell,  behold,  thou  art  there. 

If  I  take  the  wings  of  the  morning,  and  dwell 
in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  sea; 

Even  there  shall  thy  hand  lead  me,  and  thy  right 
hand  shall  hold  me. 

If  I  say,  Surely  the  darkness  shall  cover  me ;  even 
the  night  shall  be  light  about  me. 

Yea,  the  darkness  hideth  not  from  thee;  but  the 
night  shineth  as  the  day :  the  darkness  and  the  light 
are  both  alike  to  thee. 

For  thou  hast  possessed  my  reins :  thou  hast 
covered  me  in  my  mother's  womb."  Ps.  cxxxix, 
7-13. 

"  The  hand  of  the  Lord  was  upon  me,  and  carried 
me  out  in  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord,  and  set  me  down 
in  the  midst  of  the  valley  which  was  full  of  bones. 

And  caused  me  to  pass  by  them  round  about : 
and  behold,  there  were  very  many  in  the  open 
valley;   and  lo,  they  were  very  dry. 

And  he  said  unto  me.  Son  of  man,  can  these 
bones  live?  And  I  answered,  0  Lord  God,  thou 
knowest. 

Again  he  said  unto  me,  Prophesy  upon  these 
bones,  and  say  unto  them,  0  ye  dry  bones,  hear 
the  word  of  the  Lord. 


76        LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE  BIBLE. 

Thus  saith.-  the  Lord  God  unto  these  bones, 
Behold,  I  will  cause  breath  to  enter  into  you,  and 
ye  shall  live : 

And  I  will  lay  sinews  upon  you,  and  will  bring 
up  flesh  upon  you,  and  cover  you  with  skin,  and 
put  breath  in  you,  and  ye  shall  live;  and  ye  shall 
know  that  I  am  the  Lord. 

So  I  prophesied  as  I  was  commanded:  and  as  I 
prophesied,  there  was  a  noise,  and  behold  a  shaking 
and  the  bones  came  together,  bone  to  his  bone. 

And  when  I  beheld,  lo,  the  sinews  and  the  flesh 
came  up  upon  them,  and  the  skin  covered  them 
above:    but  there  was  no  breath  in  them. 

Then  said  he  unto  me.  Prophesy  unto  the  wind, 
prophesy,  son  of  man,  and  say  to  the  wind,  Thus 
saith  the  Lord  God;  Come  from  the  four  winds,  0 
breath,  and  breathe  upon  these  slain,  that  they  may 
live. 

So  I  prophesied,  as  he  commanded  me,  and  the 
breath  came  into  them,  and  they  lived,  and  stood 
up  upon  their  feet,  an  exceeding  great  army." 
Ezek.  xxxvii,  1-10. 

''That  which  the  palmer- worm  hath  left  hath  the 
locust  eaten;  and  that  which  the  locust  hath  left 
hath  the  canker-worm  eaten;  and  that  which  the 
canker-worm  hath  left  hath  the  caterpillar  eaten." 
Joel  i,  4. 

''And  not  only  so,  but  we  glory  in  tribulations 
also:  knowing  that  tribulation  worketh  patience; 

And  patience,  experience;    and  experience,  hope: 


THE  FIGURATIVE  IN  SCBIPTURE.  7Y 

And  hope  maketli  not  ashamed;  because  the  love 
of  God  is  shed  abroad  in  our  hearts  by  the  Holy- 
Ghost,  which  is  given  unto  us."     Rom.  v,  3-5. 

"For  I  am  persuaded,  that  neither  death,  nor 
life,  nor  angels,  nor  principalities,  nor  powers,  nor 
things  present,  nor  things  to  come, 

Nor  hight,  nor  depth,  nor  any  other  creature, 
shall  be  able  to  separate  us  from  the  love  of  God, 
which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord."  Eom.  viii, 
38-39. 

''And  besides  this,  giving  all  diligence,  add  to 
your  faith  virtue;  and  to  virtue,  knowledge; 

And  to  knowledge,  temperance;  and  to  temper- 
ance, patience;    and  to  patience,  godliness; 

And  to  godliness,  brotherly  kindness;  and  to 
brotherly  kindness,  charity."     2  Pet.  i,  5-7. 

HYPERBOLE. 

The  hyperbole  is  a  figure  of  exaggeration.  It 
consists  in  magnifying  or  diminishing  an  object 
beyond  its  natural  dimensions.  The  tendency  to 
do  this  must  be  natural  to  man,  since  in  all  lan- 
guages, even  in  common  conversation,  hyperbolical 
expressions  very  frequently  occur.  When  the  im- 
agination is  favorably  afi'ected  by  its  present  object, 
and,  as  it  were,  is  challenged  by  some  other  object 
possessing  a  similar  property  in  a  higher  degree, 
unwilling  to  confess  the  former  to  be  inferior,  it 
boldly  asserts  its  equality.  Thus,  if  the  fleetness 
of  a  racer  is  the  object  which  has  preoccupied  the 


78         LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE   BIBLE. 

imagination,  his  speed  is  as  swift  as  the  wind;  if 
some  object  which  is  white,  say  a  bridal  robe,  its 
whiteness  equals  that  of  snow;  if  a  lofty  mountain, 
it  pierces  the  heavens;  if  a  numerous  host,  it  is  as 
multitudinous  as  the  stars  in  the  firmament,  or  the 
sand  upon  the  sea-shore;  if  the  sheen  of  buckler 
and  spear,  it  dazzles  us  as  if  the  lightning's  flash. 

The  tendency  to  hyperbolize  is  greater  in  youth 
than  in  maturer  years,  when  experience  has  taught 
us  to  take  a  juster  measure  of  things,  and  when  the 
imagination  has  cooled  to  a  lower  heat.  From  the 
same  cause  the  earlier  literatures  abound  most  in 
hyperbole.  So,  also,  according  as  the  imagination 
of  a  people  is  more  or  less  lively,  will  their  lan- 
guage be  characterized  by  this  figure.  Hence  the 
literature  of  the  Orientals,  who  are  ardently  imag- 
inative, is  far  more  hyperbolic  than  that  of  the 
Europeans,  who,  under  a  less  torrid  sky,  are  more 
phlegmatic. 

From  its  nature  the  hyperbole  scarce  admits  of 
bounds  or  limitation.  It  will  not  be  fenced  in  by 
formal  rules  or  prescriptions.  Its  line  of  motion,  so 
to  speak,  is  not  the  circle,  but  its  tangent;  but  for 
this  very  reason  it  is  the  more  imperative  that  the 
subject  hyperbolized  is  such  as  will  sustain  the  ex- 
aggeration. What  is  really  great  will  bear  to  be 
represented  as  still  greater ;  and  what  is  lofty,  as  still 
more  lofty;  what  is  long-during,  as  everlasting;  and 
what  is  so  ancient  that  the  oldest  history  has  failed 
to  trace  its  beginnings,  as  eternal.     But  no  conceiv- 


THE   FIGURATIVE  IN   SCRIPTURE.  79 

able  circumstances  could  reconcile  us  to  a  trifling 
object  being  equaled  with  one  that  is  great,  or  a 
small  object  with  one  that  is  immense.  It  were 
mere  burlesque  or  caricature  to  magnify  a  mole-hill 
into  a  mountain;  or  an  ephemera  into  an  immortal; 
or  a  lock  of  hair  into  a  comet's  tail.  To  be  repre- 
sented as  immense,  an  object  must  at  least  be  large; 
or  an  assemblage  to  be  set  forth  as  innumerable, 
must  be  literally  a  multitude.  An  attempt  to  mag- 
nify minuteness,  or  to  aggrandize  meanness,  or  to 
elevate  what  is  low,  would  be  resented  as  an  ex- 
travagance or  a  deception. 

Though  examples  of  hyperbole  are  not  wanting 
in  the  Scriptures,  it  occurs  less  frequently  than  one 
might  expect,  considering  how  partial  the  Oriental 
writers  are  to  this  figure.  The  native  majesty  of 
their  themes,  their  strong  truthfulness,  and  the 
sobriety  of  thought  by  which  a  pure  devotion  never 
fails  to  check  the  imagination  and  moderate  the 
passions,  will  account  for  the  comparative  infre- 
quency  with  which  the  sacred  writers  employ  a 
figure  which  deals  in  exaggeration. 

The  following  specimens  are  worthy  to  be  cited 
as  extremely  bold,  without,  however,  being  in  the 
least  extravagant : 

''And  they  said,  Go  to,  let  us  build  us  a  city,  and 
a  tower  whose  top  may  reach  unto  heaven;  and  let 
us  make  us  a  name,  lest  we  be  scattered  abroad 
upon  the  face  of  the  whole  earth."     Gen.  xi,  4. 

"And  I  will  make  thy  seed  as   the  dust  of  the 


80        LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE  BIBLE. 

earth :  so  that  if  a  man  can  number  the  dust  of  the 
earth,  then  shall  thy  seed  also  be  numbered."  Gen. 
xiii,  16. 

''And  he  brought  him  forth  abroad,  and  said, 
Look  now  toward  heaven,  and  tell  the  stars,  if  thou 
be  able  to  number  them.  And  he  said  unto  him, 
So  shall  thy  seed  be."     Gen.  xv,  5. 

'*  The  earth  shall  reel  to  and  fro  like  a  drunkard, 
and  shall  be  removed  like  a  cottage;  and  the  trans- 
gression thereof  shall  be  heavy  upon  it;  and  it  shall 
fall,  and  not  rise  again."     Is.  xiv,  20. 

''I  beheld  the  earth,  and  lo,  it  was  without  form 
and  void;  and  the  heavens,  and  they  had  no  light. 

I  beheld  the  mountains,  and  lo,  they  trembled, 
and  all  the  hills  moved  lightly. 

I  beheld,  and  lo,  there  was  no  man,  and  all  the 
birds  of  the  heavens  were  fled. 

I  beheld,  and  lo,  the  fruitful  place  was  a  wilder- 
ness, and  all  the  cities  thereof  were  broken  down, 
at  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  and  by  his  fierce  anger." 
Jer.  iv,  23-26. 

''And  again  I  say  unto  you.  It  is  easier  for  a 
camel  to  go  through  the  eye  of  a  needle,  than  for  a 
rich  man  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God."  Matt, 
xix,  24. 

"And  there  are  also  many  other  things  which 
Jesus  did,  the  which,  if  they  should  be  written 
every  one,  I  suppose  that  even  the  world  itself 
could  not  contain  the  books  that  should  be  written. 
Amen."     John  xxi,  25. 


THE   FIGURATIVE  IN   SCRIPTURE.  81 

PERSONIFICATION. 

The  human  mind,  constitutionally  social,  must 
needs  desire  society;  and,  along  with  society,  it 
craves  for  sympathy.  When  the  plaintive  passion 
becomes  excessive,  if  it  can  not  be  gratified  in  a 
natural  way,  it  will  convert  even  inanimate  objects 
into  sympathizing  beings.  If  I  follow  the  solitary 
to  his  hermit  haunts  I  shall  find  that,  although  he 
has  fled  the  society  of  his  fellow-men,  he  can  not  do 
without  associates;  for,  rather  than  be  companion- 
less,  he  will  tame  the  fawns  of  the  wood  to  keep 
him  company,  till  they  have  learned  to  feed  out  of 
his  hand,  and  follow  him  on  his  lonely  paths.  He 
will  address  them,  as  the  mood  happens  to  be  upon 
him,  in  bitter  invective  or  doleful  lament ;  as  if  they 
could  share  in  his  hate  of  his  human  kind,  and  par- 
ticipate in  his  sorrows.  Nay,  more;  could  I  watch 
him  in  his  sadder  moments,  I  should  probably  hear 
him  pouring  forth  his  sorrows  to  the  midnight  stars, 
or  making  his  plaint  to  the  trees  of  the  wood,  as 
they  droop  their  dewy  branches  in  the  midnight  air. 
Nor  is  the  solitary  altogether  singular  in  this.  For, 
when  under  any  strong  emotion,  whether  it  be  of  a 
joyous  or  a  sad  kind,  if  no  living  ear  is  nigh  tc 
listen  to  us,  we  yield  to  an  impulse  of  our  social 
nature,  and  address  the  inanimate  objects  around 
us  as  if  endowed  with  human  sympathies.  It  is  in 
this  instinct  of  our  social  emotions  that  the  figure 
we  are  now  considering  has  its  origin.  For  in  per- 
sonification, or,  as  it  is  more  technically  called,  pro- 


82         LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF    THE   BIBLE. 

sopopceia,  we  bestow  sensibility  and  voluntary  motion 
on  tilings  inanimate,  and  ascribe  rational  intellect 
and  moral  feelings  to  the  lower  animals.  This  un- 
questionably is  a  bold  figure;  yet,  such  is  the  effect 
of  the  passions  to  incline  us  toward  it,  that,  pro- 
vided it  is  naturally  introduced,  we  acquit  a  writer 
of  any  charge  of  extravagance  who  employs  it. 

There  is  a  temperate  heat  of  the  passions,  which 
is  little  more  than  a  glow  of  the  fancy,  when  what 
might  seem  a  mild  form  of  personification  is  used 
even  in  ordinary  discourse — as  when  we  speak  of 
the  thirsty  ground,  q,  furious  dart,  the  angry  ocean, 
the  melancholy  groves,  the  listening  air.  But  this 
will  be  more  properly  considered  as  simple  meta- 
phor; since  such  epithets  do  not  produce  even  a 
momentary  conviction  that  the  ground,  the  dart, 
the  ocean,  the  groves,  the  air,  are  endued  with  per- 
sonal attributes.  But  when  the  heat  of  the  passions 
goes  beyond  a  glow  of  the  fancy,  the  imagination 
would  seem  to  sympathize  with  the  sincerity  and 
truthfulness  of  our  emotions ;  and  instead  of  sporting 
in  fancied  conceits,  is  impressed  with  the  belief — 
which  is  of  course  only  temporary — that  the  inani- 
mate objects  which  it  addresses  are  actually  endowed 
with  the  attributes  of  sensible  beings. 

There  would  seem  to  be  just  two  degrees  of  this 
figure.  The  first,  or  lower  degree,  when  we  intro- 
duce inanimate  objects  as  feeling  and  acting  like 
those  that  have  life;  and  the  second,  or  higher 
degree,  when  inanimate  objects  are  introduced  not 


THE   FIGURATIVE   IN  SCRIPTURE.  83 

only  as  feeling  and  acting,  but  as  speaking  to  us  or 
nearing  and  listening  to  us  when  we  address  our- 
selves to  them. 

In  the  sacred  Scriptures  personification  in  both  its 
degrees  is  frequently  used;  and  the  equal  of  some 
of  the  instances  will  not  be  found  in  any  literature. 
Indeed,  it  is  this  figure  which,  beyond  all  others, 
elevates  the  style  of  Scripture;  for  no  personifica- 
tions employed  by  any  poets  are  so  magnificent  and 
striking  as  those  of  the  inspired  writers.  That 
noted  passage  in  the  book  of  Isaiah,  which  describes 
the  fall  of  the  king  of  Assyria,  is  full  of  personified 
objects: 

"That  thou  shalt  take  up  this  proverb  against 
the  king  of  Babylon,  and  say.  How  hath  the  op- 
pressor ceased !  the  golden  city  ceased ! 

The  Lord  hath  broken  the  staff  of  the  wicked, 
and  the  scepter  of  the  rulers. 

He  who  smote  the  people  in  wrath  with  a  con- 
tinual stroke,  he  that  ruled  the  nations  in  anger,  is 
persecuted,  and  none  hindereth. 

The  whole  earth  is  at  rest,  and  is  quiet:  they 
break  forth  into  singing. 

Yea,  the  fir-trees  rejoice  at  thee,  and  the  cedars 
of  Lebanon,  saying,  Since  thou  art  laid  down,  no 
feller  is  come  up  against  us. 

Hell  from  beneath  is  moved  for  thee  to  meet  thee 
at  thy  coming:  it  stirreth  up  the  dead  for  thee, 
even  all  the  chief  ones  of  the  earth:  it  hath  raised 
up  from  their  thrones  all  the  kings  of  the  nations. 


84        LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE   BIBLE. 

All  they  shall  speak  and  say  unto  thee,  Art 
thou  also  become  weak  as  we?  art  thou  become  like 
unto  us? 

Thy  pomp  is  brought  down  to  the  grave,  and  the 
noise  of  thy  viols :  the  worm  is  spread  under  thee, 
and  the  worms  cover  thee. 

How  art  thou  fallen  from  heaven,  0  Lucifer,  son 
of  the  morning!  how  art  thou  cut  down  to  the 
ground,  which  didst  weaken  the  nations !"  Is.  xiv, 
4-12. 

What  a  succession  of  bold  poetic  strokes  we  have 
here;  the  fir-trees  and  cedars  of  Lebanon  breaking 
forth  into  exultation  over  the  fall  of  the  tyrant ;  as  if 
their  bleeding  trunks  had  felt  the  blow  of  his  bat- 
tle-ax, when  it  smote  down  the  warriors  of  Judah ! 
Hell  from  beneath  moved  up  to  meet  him — and  the 
dead  kings  introduced  as  commiserating  with  mock 
pity  the  fall  of  one  whose  magnificence  and  victories 
had  eclipsed  their  own  !  That  also  is  a  bold  personi- 
fication in  the  book  of  Job,  where  inquiry  being 
made  about  the  place  of  wisdom,  the  deep  is  intro- 
duced as  answering,  "  It  is  not  in  me,"  and  the  sea 
as  replying,  ''It  is  not  with  me."  How  animated  a 
picture  the  Psalmist  raises  when,  not  content  to 
strike  his  harp  alone,  he  summons  to  the  choir,  to 
join  with  him  in  his  anthem,  every  thing  that  lives, 
or  moves,  or  has  a  being!  "Praise  the  Lord  from 
the  earth,  ye  dragons,  and  all  deeps :  fire  and  hail ;' 
snow  and  vapor;  stormy  wind  fulfilling  his  word: 
mountains  and  all  hills;  fruitful  trees,  and  all  ce- 


THE  FIGURATIVE   IN  SCRIPTURE.  85 

dars:  beasts,  and  all  cattle;  creeping  tilings,  and 
flying  fowl :  kings  of  the  earth,  and  all  people ; 
princes  and  all  judges  of  the  earth:  both  young  men 
and  maidens ;  old  men  and  children :  let  them  praise 
the  name  of  the  Lord;  for  his  name  alone  is  excel- 
lent; his  glory  is  above  the  earth  and  heaven." 
When  any  appearance  or  operation  of  the  Almighty 
is  concerned,  the  sacred  writers  are  so  filled  with 
animated  views  of  his  majesty  and  power,  that  they 
represent  all  nature  as  if  touched  with  a  like  ani- 
mation— the  pulses  of  life  throbbing  as  if  one  great 
heart  beat  throughout  creation.  Take  the  following 
as  an  example  of  this :  "  Before  him  went  the  pesti- 
lence :  the  waters  saw  thee,  0  God,  and  were  afraid ; 
the  mountains  saw  thee,  and  trembled.  The  over- 
flowing of  the  water  passed  by;  the  deep  uttered 
his  voice,  and  lifted  up  his  hands  on  high."  What 
a  sublime  stroke,  whose  parallel,  I  venture  to  say, 
will  not  be  found  in  the  entire  compass  of  classic 
poetry,  where  it  is  said  of  Christ  that,  looking  upon 
the  tempestuous  sea  on  rising  from  sleep,  "  He  re- 
buked the  winds  and  the  sea,  and  there  was  a  great 
calm !"  To  speak  to  the  raging  tempest — its  rushing 
winds  and  its  crusted  waves — with  the  word  of  au- 
thority, as  though  Nature  in  her  wildest  moods 
could  not  fail  to  recognize  the  voice  of  her  Lord; 
could  a  sublimer  personification  be  conceived !  As 
an  example  of  this  figure,  where  simplicity  is  com- 
bined with  great  beauty,  the  following  may  be  cited : 
"The  heavens  declare  the   glory   of  God,  and  the 


86        LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

firmament  shewetli  his  handiwork.  Day  unto  day 
uttereth  speech,  and  night  unto  night  sheweth 
knowledge.  There  is  no  speech  nor  language  where 
their  voice  is  not  heard."  Ps.  xix.  Addison  has 
paraphrased  this  thought,  with  his  usual  felicity  of 
diction,  in  his  celebrated  hymn,  which  first  appeared 
in  No.  465  of  the  Spectator.  Nothing  can  be  con- 
ceived more  beautiful  and  sublime  than  the  personi- 
fication of  wisdom  which  Solomon  so  frequently 
introduces.  As  for  example,  Prov.  viii,  27-31 : 
''When  he  prepared  the  heavens  I  was  present; 
when  he  described  a  circle  on  the  face  of  the  deep : 
when  he  disposed  the  atmosphere  above;  when  he 
established  the  fountains  of  the  deep:  when  he  pub- 
lished his  decree  to  the  sea,  that  the  waters  should 
not  pass  their  bounds :  when  he  planned  the  founda- 
tions of  the  earth  :  then  was  I  by  him  as  his  offspring ; 
and  I  was  daily  his  delight;  I  rejoiced  continually 
before  him ;  I  rejoiced  in  the  habitable  part  of  his 
earth,  and  my  delights  were  with  the  sons  of  men." 
Not  less  admirable  is  the  Psalmist's  personification 
of  the  Divine  attributes:  ''  Mercy  and  truth  are  met 
together;  righteousness  and  peace  have  kissed  each 
other."  Where  shall  we  find  a  bolder  use  of  this 
figure,  than  where  the  prophet  Habakkuk  represents 
the  pestilence  as  marching  before  Jehovah  when  he 
comes  to  vengeance,  iii,  5 ;  or  where  Job  introduces 
death  and  destruction  affirming  of  wisdom  that  her 
fame  only  had  come  to  their  ears,  xxviii,  22;  or 
where  Isaiah,   in  his   tremendous  image  of  Hades, 


THE   FIGURATIVE   IN   SCRIPTURE.  87 

figures  her  extending  her  throat  and  opening  her  in- 
satiable and  immeasurable  jaws,  v.  14. 

APOSTROPHE. 

This  figure  and  the  former  are  derived  from  the 
same  principle.  For  the  like  impulse  which,  to 
gratify  a  plaintive  passion,  leads  us  to  bestow  a  mo- 
mentary sensibility  upon  an  inanimate  object,  does 
also  incline  us  to  bestow  a  momentary  presence  upon 
a  sensible  being  who  is  absent.  The  same  desire  for 
sympathy  which  leads  us  to  address  our  sorrows  to 
the  ocean,  on  whose  shores  we  are  standing,  also 
moves  to  utter  them  to  the  absent  friend  whom  that 
ocean  separates  from  us.  The  memory  of  our  for- 
mer companionship,  when  we  exchanged  our  feel- 
ings, becomes  so  very  lively  as  to  change  for  the 
moment  from  a  mere  reminiscence  into  a  conviction 
that  the  absent  one  is  at  our  side. 

This  figure  is  sometimes  joined  with  personifica- 
tion ;  things  inanimate,  to  qualify  them  for  listening 
to  our  apostrophic  appeal,  being  not  only  conceived 
to  be  present  but  personified. 

Examples  of  the  apostrophe  are  numerous  in  the 
sacred  writers,  and  the  figure  is  often  managed  with 
great  boldness. 

"  0  thou  sword  of  the  Lord,  how  long  will  it  be 
ere  thou  art  quiet?  Put  thyself  up  into  the  scab- 
bard, rest,  and  be  still.  How  can  it  be  quiet,  seeing 
the  Lord  hath  given  it  a  charge  against  Ashkelon, 
and  against  the  sea-shore  ?  there  he  hath  appointed 


88        LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

it."  Jer.  xlvii,  6-7.  '^0  death,  I  will  be  tliy 
plagues!  0  grave,  I  will  be  thy  destruction!"  Hos. 
xiii,  14.  ''0  death,  where  is  thy  sting?  0  grave, 
where  is  thy  victory?"     1  Cor.  xv,  55. 

"Descend,  and  sit  in  the  dust,  0  virgin  daughter 
of  Babylon;  sit  on  the  bare  ground  without  a 
throne,  0  daughter  of  the  Chaldeans;  for  thou  shalt 
no  longer  be  called  the  tender  and  the  delicate."  Is. 
xlvii,  1.  ''Awake,  awake;  put  on  thy  strength,  0 
Zion;  put  on  thy  beautiful  garments,  0  Jerusalem, 
the  holy  city;  for  henceforth  there  shall  no  more 
come  into  thee  the  uncircumcised  and  the  unclean. 
Shake  thyself  from  the  dust;  arise,  and  sit  down, 
0  Jerusalem;  loose  thyself  from  the  bands  of  thy 
neck,  0  captive  daughter  of  Zion."     Isa.  Hi,  1-2. 


THE   SYMBOLIC  IN  THE   SCRIPTURES.  89 


CHAPTER    V. 

THE  SYMBOLIC  IN  THE  SCRIPTURES. 

The  figurative  and  the  symbolic  are  closely  allied, 
in  so  far  that  a  common  principle  underlies  both, 
and  the  same  style  often  distinguishes  both.  Hence 
there  is  a  form  of  symbolic  description,  which  might 
be  resolved  into  one  or  other  of  the  figures  of  speech ; 
more  especially  the  allegory  and  the  continued  met- 
aphor. When  these  present  an  enlarged  picture,  or 
a  succession  of  pictures,  by  means  of  visible  objects, 
of  a  subject  which  is  either  invisible,  or  less  obvious 
to  the  senses  than  the  figurative  objects  are,  they 
may  be  said  to  be  symbolic.  In  this  way  several 
of  the  prophecies  are  given  in  the  form  of  simple 
allegory.  Such  were  Joseph's  dreams;  such  was 
the  vision,  seen  by  Nebuchadnezzar,  of  the  great 
image,  whose  brightness  so  dazzled,  while  its  form 
overawed  the  imperial  autocrat;  such,  also,  as 
figured  by  the  prophet,  was  the  striking  vision  of 
the  tree  which  grew  and  was  strong,  yet  was 
ordered  to  be  cut  down  and  destroyed.  Of  the 
same  nature  are  not  a  few  of  the  symbolical  repre- 
sentations by  action,  whether  exhibiting  past  events, 
or  events  which  are  to  come.  These  may  be  re- 
garded as  so  many  highly-figured  allegories,  or 
metaphors  richly  painted. 


90        LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

But  there  is  to  be  found  in  the  Scriptures  a 
scheme  of  symbolism,  which  will  not  resolve  into 
mere  figures  of  speech.  Its  use  was  evidently  in- 
tended to  be  more  profound  and  far  loftier,  than 
merely  to  give  a  literary  effect  to  the  style.  While 
figurative  in  its  expression,  there  are  undercur- 
rents deeper  than  any  figures  of  speech  could  carry. 

On  turning  to  the  prophecies,  we  shall  find  that 
the  language  in  which  they  are  couched  goes  be- 
yond the  metaphor  and  allegory;  for  terms  are  used 
in  a  manner  which  is  altogether  unique  and  pecu- 
liar to  this  mode  of  representation ;  and  this  is  done 
so  much  on  system,  or  according  to  a  uniform 
method,  that  the  prophetic  style  requires  a  key  of 
its  own.  Its  vocabulary  is  singular;  its  language 
has  an  alphabet  by  itself.  To  decipher  the  pro- 
phetic hieroglyphics  belongs  rather  to  the  exegesis 
than  to  the  literature  of  Scripture.  Yet  it  falls 
within  our  design  to  remark  how  rich  is  the  lit- 
erary dress  in  which  their  symbolism  has  clothed 
the  prophetic  writings.  These  visions  of  the  future 
have  an  amazing  scenic  effect;  are  grand,  some- 
times gorgeous  beyond  conception,  in  consequence 
of  the  substitution  of  their  symbolic  images  for  the 
literary  events  themselves.  A  splendid  drapery  is 
thrown  around  these  future  histories,  which  in  the 
ordinary  historian  would  be  extravagant ;  but  which 
in  the  prophet  is  dignified  and  becoming  as  the 
solemn  folds  of  his  own  prophetic  mantle.  There  is 
a  noble  obscurity,  as  when  the  clouds,  gilded  by  the 


THE   SYMBOLIC   IN  THE   SCRIPTURES.  91 

twilight  from  the  unrieen  sun,  seem  to  pile  up 
palaces  upon  the  mountains'  dusky  summits.  Any- 
one may  convince  himself  of  this  by  turning  to  the 
pages  of  Ezekiel,  Daniel,  or  John;  and  if  with 
darkling  pen  these  have  written  down  on  tablets  of 
shadow  the  world's  future  history,  this  very  ob- 
scurity hightens  the  artistic  effect.  A  prediction 
which  should  present  itself  in  bare  literalities  would 
want  those  spectral  proportions,  which  only  dimness 
can  give  to  it,  as  we  see  it  move  on  the  indistinct 
verges  of  distant  centuries.  Whatever  the  rapt  eye 
of  the  seer  might  itself  descry,  it  could  fling  back 
for  other  eyes  only  mantled  glances.  And  it  is  the 
working  out  of  the  symbolism  necessary  for  this  ob- 
scuration, which  so  amazingly  exhibits  the  literary 
excellence  of  these  prophetic  compositions.  The 
artistic  effect  in  the  working  of  light  and  shade  is 
similar  to  the  finest  efforts  of  Rembrandt.  The 
bare  thought  of  a  prediction,  however  ordinary  the 
event  predicted,  has  in  it  something  sublime;  and 
this  sublimity  is  wonderfully  sustained  by  the  sym- 
bolic style  of  the  prophets. 

To  enter  on  an  examination  of  the  prophetic  style 
would  lead  us  into  the  subject  of  Biblical  interpre- 
tation, which  is  aside  from  our  purpose.  A  single 
illustration,  however,  may  be  given.  It  is  to  be 
found  in  the  chronology  of  the  prophets,  in  which 
the  term  day,  instead  of  the  diurnal  circle  of 
twenty-four  hours,  counts  the  annual  circle  of  the 
sun's    revolution ;    in    other   words,    a    year.     Now 


92        LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE   BIBLE. 

wliy  did  these  ancient  seers  reckon  by  days  thus 
extended  into  years,  rather  than  by  years  them- 
selves? May  not  one  reason  have  been  to  impress 
upon  the  mind  of  man,  that  when  he  works  his 
little  day  counts  no  more  than  its  own  brief  value — 
the  few  hours  the  earth  takes  to  turn  on  its  axis? 
whereas  when  it  is  God  who  works,  his  day  swells 
in  dimension  and  becomes  as  a  year — the  period  of 
the  far  wider  revolution,  when  our  planet  sweeps  its 
entire  orbitual  curve. 

The  visual  range  of  prophecy  was  not  confined 
within  our  terrene  horizon ;  for  to  her  eye  was  given 
to  pierce  the  world  unseen.  Now  it  will  at  once  ap- 
pear, that  in  his  descriptions  of  the  invisible  world, 
the  prophet  could  only  describe  by  means  of  symbols. 
His  pictures  of  a  condition  of  existence  of  which  we 
have  no  experience,  if  worked  in  colors  borrowed 
from  the  earth,  can  be  no  other  than  symbolic 
representations.  The  material  parts  of  his  descrip- 
tions are  not  to  be  taken  in  their  literal  but  in  their 
suggestive  sense.  Does  he  represent  heaven  as  a  city, 
whose  walls  are  of  precious  stones,  its  streets  paved 
with  gold? — this  is  simply  a  symbol  of  its  magnif- 
icence. Are  its  inhabitants  figured  in  white  rai- 
ment, which  glistens  in  unclouded  light? — this  is 
merely  a  symbol  of  their  purity.  The  entire  scenic 
representation  is  but  one  grand  piece  of  symbolism. 
For  clearly  on  no  other  principle  could  the  unseen 
world  and  the  future  state  be  described;  if  the  de- 
BcriptionR  are  to  be  at  all  pictorial.     But  this  once 


THE   SYMBOLIC   IN   THE    SCRIPTURES.  93 

admitted,  what  an  ample  scope  was  given  to  the 
prophet  to  work  out  the  magnificent  imagery  of  the 
heavenly  world!  All  that  is  beautiful  and  bright — 
all  that  is  grand  and  gorgeous — the  magnificence  of 
architecture — the  minstrelsies  of  music — the  wealth 
of  Eastern  mines — the  insignia  of  Eastern  royalty — 
the  rich  vestments  of  Eastern  costume — all  could  be 
collected  into  the  prophet's  representations.  He 
could  dip  his  pen  in  the  glories  of  the  first  para- 
dise— could  borrow  beauty  from  the  landscapes  of 
Palestine,  and  magnificence  from  its  palaces — could 
gather  into  his  pictures  the  sacred  grandeurs  which 
gleamed  from  the  Temple,  ajid  enrich  them  with  the 
loveliest  hues  of  Mount  Zion,  ''the  perfection  of 
beauty."  Or  working  out  his  symbolism  by  means 
of  contrast,  he  could  figure  a  paradise  where  no 
serpent  lurks  to  deceive — a  sun-world  where  no  sea 
lashes  itself  into  storms — an  orb  of  light  where 
night  does  not  alternate  with  day.  In  short,  though 
v/hat  the  prophet  had  to  describe  is  that  "which 
eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither  hath 
entered  into  the  heart  of  man  to  conceive,"  yet 
working  out  his  descriptions  on  the  principle  of 
symbolism,  where,  in  any  language,  will  we  find  a 
grandeur  of  apocalyptic  imagery  to  compare  with 
that  with  which  the  banished  seer  of  Patmos  has 
enriched  the  sacred  literature? 

It  is,  however,  in  the  typology  of  Scripture  that 
we  shall  best  see  its  peculiar  symbolism.  It  be- 
longs, of  course,  to  the  theologian  to  set  forth  the 


94         LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BICLK. 

doctrinal  meanings  of  the  types;  our  business  is 
only  with  their  literary  effect.  And  certainly  this 
was  to  give  a  singularly-pictorial  vividness  to  the 
sacred  literature  of  the  Hebrews.  The  bare  de- 
scription of  the  types,  especially  of  those  which  were 
ritualistic,  has  made  the  Pentateuch  read  like  a 
finely-illustrated  work.  It  is  profusely  and  most 
graphically  pictorial.  The  pen  of  the  sacred  law- 
giver becomes  also  the  pencil  of  the  sacred  artist. 
The  entire  ritualism,  under  which  are  vailed  so 
many  spiritual  meanings,  is  one  grand  picture-rep- 
resentation of  heavenly  truth. 

It  is  a  trite  saying  that  it  is  a  difficult  thing  to 
write  suitable  books  for  children,  particularly  on 
religion,  so  as  to  give  to  abstract  truths  that  con- 
crete form  which  will  fix  them  on  the  infantile 
mind.  Now  here  for  the  Church  in  its  infancy  or 
nonage,  a  body  of  divinity  had  to  be  written — a 
theological  primer  which  should  contain  in  substance 
the  same  profound  revelations  of  the  mind  of  God, 
which  were  to  be  hereafter  given  in  the  fullness  of 
the  times.  How  admirably  suited  for  this  purpose 
was  the  symbolistic  manual  which  Moses  prepared! 

It  has  sometimes  been  a  taunt  with  the  infidel 
that  the  ritual  of  Moses  was  so  sanguinary,  and  so 
offensive,  even  to  the  sight,  that  it  turned  the 
sanctuary  as  into  a  slaughter-house,  and  filled  the 
holy  places  with  ghastly  spectacles;  that  it  ensan- 
guined the  very  literature  of  the  Hebrews,  for  the 
book  of  Leviticus  seems  to  drip  with  blood,  and  is 


THE   SYMBOLIC  IN  THE   SCRIPTURES.  1)5 

revolting  with  horrid  details  of  sacrificial  butch- 
eries. "Conceive" — the  infidel  says — "what  a  re- 
pulsive sight  it  must  have  been  when  the  tender 
lamb,  just  brought  from  the  fold  or  the  pasture-field, 
had  its  throat  cut,  its  white  breast  smeared  with  its 
own  gore,  and  its  dismembered  limbs  laid  on  the 
altar-faggots  to  blacken  in  the  flames.  Or  what  a 
sickening  sight  it  was  to  see  the  turtle-dove,  which 
so  lately  cooed  its  tender  responses  to  its  mate, 
strangled,  plucked  of  its  feathers,  and  disembow- 
eled. All  this  must  have  been  excessively  revolting 
to  behold,  while  it  could  be  scarcely^  less  revolting 
to  read  a  detailed  account  of  it.  A  literature  which 
describes  it  could  only  gratify  a  taste  for  the  horri- 
ble, and  of  this  sort  was  the  early  sacred  history 
of  the  Hebrews,  where  you  have  the  whole  details 
of  the  disgusting  spectacle."  Such  is  the  objection 
of  the  infidel,  who  forgets  that  if  these  sacrificial 
rites  had  been  any  less  revolting,  they  would  have 
failed  in  their  great  symbolic  use.  An  image  of  sin — 
that  abominable  thing  which  God  hateth — ^had  to 
be  presented;  and  it  was  to  be  seen  in  that  bleed- 
ing lamb  as  it  panted  in  its  death-throes,  its  eyes  be- 
come glazed  and  lusterless,  its  limbs  rigid,  its  fleece 
dappled  in  its  own  gore.  It  was  to  be  seen  in  that 
strangled  dove,  whose  plumage  is  so  ruffled,  its 
wings  draggled  and  torn,  its  very  bowels  protrud- 
ing through  the  garsh  which  the  priest's  knife  had 
made.  In  these,  sickening  to  look  upon,  what  the 
Israelites  saw  was  the  image  of  sin.     Those  ghastly 


06         LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

changes  whicli  had  come  over  the  lamb,  which  a 
few  hours  ago  was  at  its  gambols  on  the  green 
meadow,  and  over  that  turtle-dove,  which  yesterday 
cooed  its  note  among  the  sycamore  branches,  or 
clove  the  air  a  thing  of  beauty  and  of  life — those 
ghastly  changes  which  have  made  creatures,  lately 
so  fair  to  look  upon,  now  sickening  to  behold,  were 
not  exhibited  as  a  mere  spectacle,  but  were  symbols 
of  a  great  truth,  which  needed  to  be  graven  on  the 
memory,  even  if  it  should  be  as  with  the  point  of  a 
knife  dipped  in  blood.  As  the  worshiper  gazed  upon 
his  sacrifice,  what  he  saw  was  the  image  of  sin — of 
himself  the  sinner:  what  he,  polluted,  depraved, 
death-doomed,  was  in  the  sight  of  the  Holy  One. 

Nor  was  it  sin  only  which  was  symbolized,  but 
salvation  as  well.  And  how  sustaining  to  hope, 
while  having  to  look  through  the  dim  vista  of  cen- 
turies, to  have  set  forth  visibly  before  it  the  sym- 
bols of  the  ''great  salvation!"  It  is  impossible  for 
us  fully  to  realize  the  impression  which  these  pre- 
figurative  types  would  make  on  the  mind  of  an 
ancient  Hebrew.  The  gushing  wound  in  the  breast 
of  the  animal  would  lose  its  ghastliness  in  his  eyes, 
when  faith  beheld,  as  in  a  mirror,  the  foreshadowed 
images  of  redemption. 

Modern  science  has  discovered  a  typical  system 
in  nature,  of  which  one  peculiar  element  is,  that 
the  earlier  is  a  sort  of  prefiguration  of  the  later. 
The  seed  contains  what  is  to  become  the  full-grown 
plant.     The  embryo  has  within   it  what  is  to  ex- 


THE   SYMBOLIC  IN  THE   SCRIPTURES.  97 

pand  into  the  full-grown  animal.  In  the  earlier 
geological  ages  we  find  rudimentary  forms,  with 
capacities  and  even  organs,  which  become  developed 
only  in  the  more  finished  forms  of  the  later  vege- 
table and  animal  life. 

A  similar  typical  system  is  to  be  seen  in  the 
supernatural,  as  revealed  in  the  Scriptures.  A 
scheme  of  prefiguration  unfolds  itself  with  the  prog- 
ress of  the  sacred  history.  As  the  natural  has  its 
epochs  of  creation,  at  which  the  typical  form  makes 
a  move  in  advance,  approaching  somewhat  nearer 
to  the  archetypal  idea;  so  has  the  supernatural  its 
epochs  of  revelation,  at  which  we  discover  a  corre- 
sponding advancement  in  its  typical  representations. 

There  is  thus  unfolded  a  twofold  aspect  in  which 
we  may  view  the  Scriptural  typology.  First,  follow- 
ing out  the  analogy  between  the  natural  and  the 
supernatural,  each  presenting  a  typical  system,  the 
Scripture  types  may  be  regarded  as  forming  a  part 
of  the  scheme  of  universal  providence,  which  in- 
cludes, in  one  great  method,  both  departments, 
creation  and  redemption,  the  natural  and  the  super- 
natural. This  opens  up  a  study  at  once  philosoph- 
ically profound,  and  of  the  highest  picturesque 
beauty.  In  his  late  work  on  the  ''Supernatural  in 
Relation  to  the  Natural,"  Dr.  M'Cosh  has  indicated 
some  interesting  tracts  of  thought,  which  one  wishes 
the  same  able  pen  would  more  largely  follow  out. 

But,  secondly,  keeping  within  the  sphere  of  reve- 
lation, the  types  in  Scripture  have  a  value  of  their 

9 


98        LITEKARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE  BIBLE. 

own,  as  prefigurations  of  the  grand  archetypal  ideas 
in  the  economy  of  redemption,  which  they  were  in- 
tended to  adumbrate*  We  can  not  conceive  a  more 
pleasing  or  healthier  exercise  for  the  analogical 
faculty,  than  the  study  of  the  Old  Testament  types, 
when  rightly  pursued.  The  subject  has  at  length 
been  reduced  to  a  scientific  method  by  one  of  our 
most  accomplished  Scottish  divines.  Principal  Fair- 
bairn,  in  his  very  able  work  on  typology. 

The  loose  treatment  of  the  types,  which  rejoiced 
in  running  out  mere  w^ire-drawn  coincidences,  with- 
out having  got  hold  of  any  main  or  central  idea, 
was  ill  fitted  to  give  dignity  and  unity  to  these 
Divine  symbolisms.  A  like  style  of  interpretation 
used  to  be  indulged  when  treating  of  the  parables, 
which  could  not  fail  greatly  to  mar  their  beauty, 
whether  in  a  theological  or  a  literary  point  of  view. 
It  is  the  central  idea  which  gives  symmetry  and 
coherence  either  to  type  or  parable;  even  as  the 
midrib  to  the  veins  in  a  leaf,  or  as  a  stem-branch  to 
the  ofF-shooting  twigs.  There  is  besides  in  the  type 
the  prophetic  element,  or  the  foreshadowing,  on  a 
lower  platform,  of  an  identical  truth  which  is  here- 
after to  be  exhibited  on  a  higher.  And  we  take 
only  that  to  be  typical,  in  any  theological  sense, 
which  is  truly  prefigurative.  Had  our  commenta- 
tors kept  this  more  in  their  view,  it  must  have 
served  to  check  the  too  free  license  they  have  al- 
lowed to  fancy  in  running  out  the  types  into  all  man- 
ner of  minute  parallelisms.     It  is  in  our  opinion  to 


THE   SYMBOLIC   IN  THE   SCRIPTURES.  99 

degrade  tKe  majesty  of  the  Divine  teachings  by  sym- 
bol, if  we  regard  a  type  as  other  than  a  great 
thought,  which,  waiting  its  higher  manifestations, 
was  worthy  to  be  anticipated  in  symbolic  exhibi- 
tion. To  say,  for  instance,  that  Moses  was  a  type 
of  Christ,  in  respect  that  danger  threatened  the 
infancy  of  both,  is  to  confound  a  mere  historical 
coincidence  with  typical  identity.  Here  was  no 
root-principle,  no  essential  law,  nor  any  funda- 
mental idea,  in  the  method  of  Divine  Providence 
toward  our  race,  to  be  brought  out.  In  like  man- 
ner we  dismiss  some  twenty  other  particulars  in  the 
life  of  Moses,  as  not  meriting  to  be  esteemed 
strictly  typical.  Viewed  as  coincidences  they  are 
interesting,  some  of  them  remarkable;  as  historical 
parallels  they  are  instructive,  shedding  broad,  re- 
volving lights  on  Providence,  when  it  is  seen  re- 
peating itself,  yet  still  progressive;  but  they  do  not 
rise  into  the  region  of  that  class  of  facts,  which 
alone  were  worthy  to  be  typified.  This  much  only 
would  we  say  of  them,  that  they  fall  in  with  a 
natural  expectation,  that  where  two  persons  have 
a  typical  relation,  the  circumstances  of  their  his- 
tory will  run  more  parallel,  than  where  there  is 
no  such  relation. 

The  great  Hebrew  prophet  has  himself  seized  upon 
and  expressed  the  root-idea  in  the  typical  relation 
in  which  he  stood  to  Christ.  For  if  the  reader 
carefully  examines  his  words — Deut.  xviii,  15-19 — 
he  can  scarcely  fail   to  perceive   that  the  type  is 


100      LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OP  THE   BIBLE. 

founded  upon,  and  gives  sensible  form  to,  the  one 
idea  of  mediation.  Here  we  have  an  essential  prin- 
ciple in  the  method  of  Providence  toward  man.  It 
was  to  have  its  archetypal  consummation  in  the 
person  and  work  of  Christ;  in  Moses,  a  lesser  per- 
sonage, and  on  a  lower  platform,  it  had  its  typal 
adumbration.  And,  so  far  from  this  narrowing  the 
type,  we  have  but  to  start  from  this  ground-idea, 
carrying  it  along  with  us,  to  find  ourselves  drawn 
into  a  multifold  parallelism — a  system  of  co-related 
ideas  which  circle  round  the  main  one,  as  satellites 
round  their  primary;  and  receiving  from  it,  as 
these  receive  from  their  solar  orb,  a  portion  of  its 
own  light. 

There  is  often  a  poetical  beauty  in  the  types — 
some  fine  thought  fitly  draped  in  the  infolding  sym- 
bolism. So  have  we  thought  of  the  tabernacle  in 
the  wilderness,  with  its  holy  of  holies  screened  off 
by  its  woven  portal,  a  type  of  heaven.  What  a 
poetic  grandeur  was  thus  made  to  encircle  that 
fane  of  curtains !  and  how  sublime  by  very  contrast 
were  these  textile  walls,  when  viewed  as  typical  of 
the  house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the 
heavens!  So  have  we  thought,  also,  of  the  brazen 
serpent  in  the  desert.  There  is  real  poetry  in  this 
type,  when  one  considers  that  image  of  death — the 
twined  serpent  so  lifelike,  yet  lifeless — with  healing 
power  to  the  wounded.  Could  a  more  afiecting  pre- 
figuration  have  been  chosen  of  the  great  fact  in 
redemption,  that  it  was  by  death — the  death  of  Him 


THE   SYMBOLIC  IX  THE   SCRIPTURES.  101 

who  is  very  life — death  was  to  be  destroyed?  So 
have  we  thought  of  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem.  A 
glory  far  exceeding  its  architectural  splendors  envi- 
roned that  sacred  edifice  which  crowned  Mount  Zion. 
As  we  think  of  it,  the  only  Temple  on  the  face  of 
the  whole  earth  which,  so  long  as  it  stood,  had  been 
built  to  the  worship  of  the  true  God;  hoW  strik- 
ingly it  foreshadows  the  cardinal  truth  in  tlie  Gos- 
pel— that  there  is  but  one  way  of  access  to  God  for 
fallen  man — only  one  living  temple,  which  is  filled 
with  the  archetypal  shekinah,  and  consecrated  by 
the  archetypal  mercy-seat!  So  have  we  thought  of 
that  incident  in  the  life  of  Jonah  which  was  typical 
of  the  burial  and  resurrection  of  "the  Son  of  Man." 
There  has  always  appeared  to  us  to  be  something 
of  highest  poetry  about  Jonah's  typical  entombment 
in  his  sepulcher  of  waters.  The  Savior  himself  was 
buried  on  the  land;  and  since  his  resurrection  was 
to  be  a  pledge  of  the  opening  of  the  graves,  it  was 
fitting  he  should  be  buried  where  he  was;  seeing 
that  on  the  land  by  far  the  greater  numbers  have 
their  sepulchers.  But  now  with  this  connect  the 
type — the  rising  again  of  Jonah  from  his  ocean- 
tomD — and  the  pledge  of  the  resurrection  becomes 
as  it  were  complete;  the  waters  are  included  as  well 
as  the  solid  land;  the  wave-shrouded  corpses  shall 
also  rise;  "the  sea  shall  give  up  its  dead." 


102      LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS  OF   THE   BIBLE. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE   SUBLIME   IN   THE   SCRIPTURES. 

It  will  readily  be  confessed  that,  to  excel  in  these 
three — the  sublime,  the  pathetic,  and  the  pictur- 
esque— is  the  highest  achievement  of  literary  gen- 
ius. By  the  sublime,  to  fill  the  soul;  by  the 
pathetic,  to  touch  the  heart;  by  the  picturesque,  to 
fascinate  the  eye.  An  author  who  succeeds  in  doing 
this  proves  himself  a  very  master  in  literature. 
Swaying  at  his  will  the  imagination,  the  emotions, 
and  the  taste,  who  will  deny  his  power  to  be  pre- 
eminent? Now,  the  sacred  authors  evidently  pos- 
sess this  power — since  they  excel  alike  in  the  sub- 
lime, the  pathetic,  and  the  picturesque.  In  the 
present  chapter  I  design  to  treat  of  the  sublime  in 
the  Scriptures, 

In  order  to  sublimity  in  writing  three  things  are 
requisite.  First,  the  objects  described  must  be  such 
as  are  fitted  to  raise  those  ideas  or  emotions  which 
we  call  sublime;  for,  if  an  author  chooses  mean  or 
commonplace  objects,  then,  however  grand  or  lofty 
his  descriptions  of  them,  he  does  not  merit  to  be 
called  a  sublime  writer.  His  gorgeous  language 
may  produce  a  momentary  sensation  approaching  to 
sublimity,  just  as  a  haze  of  mingled  cloud  and  sun- 


THE   SUBLIME   IN   THE    SCRIPTURES.  103 

shine  sometimes  causes  us  to  mistake  a  very  ordi- 
nary hill  for  a  lofty  mountain;  but  unless  the  object 
itself  is  really  sublime,  the  illusion  will  speedily 
pass  away.  Secondly,  the  writer  himself  must  have 
a  lively  impression  of  the  object  which  he  exhibits; 
for  if  his  own  feelings  are  languid,  he  can  never 
inspire  his  readers  with  any  strong  emotion,  who 
have  to  take  their  impressions  from  his  at  second 
hand.  Only  when  a  writer  has  himself  caught  a 
heat  and  elevation  of  soul  in  the  presence  of  the 
sublime,  will  his  descriptions  of  it  bear  transmission 
through  the  medium  of  language,  which  in  no  case 
can  equal  open  vision.  Thirdly,  not  only  must  the 
object  in  itself  be  sublime,  and  the  writer  have  a 
lively  impression  of  its  sublimity,  but  it  must  be 
set  before  us  in  such  a  light,  so  described  in  appro- 
priate language,  that  a  full  and  clear  impression  of 
it  shall  at  once  strike  upon  the  mind  of  the  reader ; 
for  unless  the  images  of  sublimity  which  the  orator 
or  poet  conjures  up  impress  us  at  once  as  sublime, 
the  effect  of  his  description  is  entirely  lost.  The 
sight  of  a  cataract  or  a  lofty  mountain  instantane- 
ously produces  a  sublime  impression,  and  so  must  it 
be  with  the  description  of  them.  We  may  not  have 
to  linger  over  the  language  for  the  impression  to 
come  by  degrees,  for  in  that  case  it  will  rarely  come 
at  all. 

Now,  the  sacred  writers  possess  in  a  very  eminent 
degree  these  three  requisites  to  the  sublime  in  writ- 
ing.    For,  in  the  first  place,  their  chosen   themes 


104     LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

and  objects  are  wonderfully  sublime.  Among  things 
spiritual  what  can  be  more  grand  or  lofty  than  the 
being  and  perfections  of  the  Infinite,  Divine  Provi- 
dence, the  origin  of  evil  and  its  removal;  or  among 
things  historical,  what  can  equal  for  sublimity  the 
creation  of  worlds,  the  incarnation  of  Deity,  the 
redemption  of  a  fallen  race;  or  among  things  which 
are  prospective,  what  is  more  sublime  than  the 
closing  up  of  time  when  its  "last  day"  shall  have 
been  numbered,  the  universal  judgment  of  the  quick 
and  the  dead,  heaven  with  its  consummated  felici- 
ties, hell  with  its  unutterable  torments,  and  eternity 
with  its  countless  ages;  or  among  things  material, 
what  can  be  more  sublime  for  vastness  than  the 
starry  firmament  and  the  mighty  ocean;  or  for 
energy  and  force,  than  a  thunder-storm,  a  tempest 
of  wind,  and  the  overflowing  of  waters;  or  for  so- 
lemnity and  awe,  than  the  darkness  of  night,  the 
solitude  of  the  desert,  and  the  silence  of  a  vast  for- 
est; or  for  scenic  grandeur,  than  the  rising  of  the 
dead,  and  the  great  conflagration  which  is  to  reduce 
a  world  to  ashes?  Now,  it  is  among  such  subjects 
as  these  that  the  sacred  writers  delight  to  expatiate. 
Nor  shall  we  do  them  full  justice  if  the  impression 
is  conveyed  that  they  produce  these  lofty  objects  aa 
if  incidentally,  or  as  a  poet  might  intersperse  his 
cantos  with  an  occasional  sublime  episode.  There 
is  throughout  an  epical  unity,  these  subjects  form- 
ing, so  to  say,  the  warp  and  woof  in  the  gorgeous 
web.     Not  more  naturall}'  do  we  look  for  stars  in  a 


THE   SUBLIME  IN  THE   SCRIPTURES.  105 

constellation,  or  for  great  planets  in  the  system  of 
wticli  a  magnificent  sun  is  the  central  primary, 
than  we  expect  to  find  objects  which  are  sublime 
where  the  whole  reach  and  sweep  of  thought  is 
sublimity  itself. 

But  in  a  cosmical  system  every  part  is  not  a  star 
nor  a  planet.  Each  blade  of  grass  which  goes  to 
mantle  the  hill-slopes  on  the  latter ;  the  very  lichens 
which  thinly  clothe  its  escarped  rocks;  the  ephem- 
erae which  live  their  hour  upon  it  and  die — these 
also  form  parts  of  the  system.  Insignificant  in 
themselves,  they  borrow  a  grandeur  from  the  cos- 
mical unity  which  they  help  to  make  up.  And  in 
this  way  also  many  an  object,  in  itself  trivial  and 
little,  acquires  a  dignity  on  the  sacred  pages  by 
having  a  place  assigned  it  in  the  grand  totality  of 
truth  and  providence. 

The  inspired  writers  by  no  means  disdain  to  be 
conversant  with  familiar  objects;  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, wherever  a  moral  lesson  can  be  gathered,  or 
an  elucidation  of  truth  be  found,  be  it  among  the 
veriest  commonplaces  of  man's  daily  observation, 
the  sacred  writers  with  an  easy  pen  copy  it  on  their 
lofty  pages.  And  if  in  its  familiar  form  it  suits 
best  to  be  written  down,  they  make  no  attempt  to 
invest  it  with  meretricious  grandeur.  Yet,  so  much 
is  it  in  their  way  to  deal  with  sublime  objects,  that 
when  they  take  occasion  io  notice  any  of  a  meaner 
cast,  it  is  rare  if  they  do  not  elevate  them  into  the 
region  of  sublimity  by  the  simple  power  of  associa- 


106       LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

tion.  The  drifting  clouds,  though  picturesque,  are 
scarcely  a  sublime  object;  but  to  a  devout  mind 
they  appear  wonderfully  sublime  when  represented 
as  the  chariot  of  God.  The  fall  of  a  sparrow  from 
the  house-top  has  nothing  of  sublimity  in  it;  but 
when  this  casual  event  is  connected  with  the  special 
providence  of  God — his  eye  watching  alike  the 
flight  and  the  fall  of  the  despised  fledgling — it  be- 
comes morally  sublime. 

Then,  secondly,  the  sacred  penmen  possess  the 
emotion  of  sublimity  in  a  very  high  degree.  For 
their  feelings  in  presence  of  the  sublime  are  never 
languid,  nor  their  impressions  of  it  ever  feeble. 
How  the  poetic  rapture  must  have  kindled  and 
burned  in  the  breasts  of  the  ancient  prophets! 
"What  holy  frenzies  must  have  seized  on  the  min- 
strel spirit  of  David !  What  pulses  of  strong  emo- 
tion beat  quick  in  the  heart-veins  of  Job!  What 
sublime  musings  filled  the  soul  of  the  lonely  sage, 
who  pondered  the  mysteries  of  Providence  amid  the 
mountain  solitudes  of  Media !  How  Ezekiel  seems 
to  have  gazed  awe-struck  on  his  own  prophetic 
images !  How  tremblingly  did  Daniel  look  into 
those  future  ages,  which  rolled  their  distant  centu- 
ries like  sea-mists  from  an  invisible  horizon !  What 
ecstatic  fervors  fired  that  gentle  breast  which  sighed 
its  sorrows  and  saw  its  visions  on  the  prison  isle 
of  Patmos !  What  deep  amazement  was  his  to 
whom  in  mystic  trance  the  third  heavens  revealed 
their   secrets  and    poured    forth   their   unutterable 


THE   SUBLIME    IN  THE   SCRIPTURES.  107 

symplionies  !  Sublimity  !  is  it  only  to  souls  sublime, 
which  can  understand  it  and  appreciate  it,  that  it 
reveals  itself — its  silences  and  its  solemnities;  its 
hights  and  its  depths;  its  grandeurs  and  its  glory? 
Then  were  these  men  worthy  to  look  upon  it,  for 
not  on  them  were  lost  even  the  passing  shadows  of 
its  mysterious  forms;  but  when  these  had  passed 
there  remained  on  their  souls  images  like  to  itself, 
vast,  solemn,  majestic,  and  sublime. 

Thirdly,  the  sacred  authors  are  complete  masters 
of  the  proper  style  in  which  to  describe  a  sublime 
object,  and  so  to  convey  their  own  impressions  of  its 
sublimity.  For  they  write  with  clearness,  vigor, 
conciseness  and  simplicity;  are  ever  natural;  do 
not  labor  to  be  grandiloquent;  seek  not  to  accumu- 
late turgid  epithets  and  swelling  phrases;  but  in 
words  of  simple  grandeur,  so  well  befitting  their 
themes,  they  depict  the  sublime  alike  in  nature  or 
in  grace.  Indeed,  except  with  those  who  have  a  true 
eye  for  the  sublime,  the  great  simplicity,  one  might 
say  almost  the  nakedness  of  many  of  the  Bible  de- 
scriptions, will  take  from  their  impressiveness.  But 
the  same  might  be  said  of  the  works  of  nature. 
These,  when  grandest,  are  generally  least  elaborate. 
A  treeless  desert  of  sand — a  heaving  expanse  of 
waters — a  huge  mountain,  rudely  blocked,  capping 
its  rugged  brow  with  storm-clouds — these  in  form 
are  as  simple  as  may  be  conceived ;  yet  in  effect 
they  are  sublime  beyond  conception.  The  rush  of 
cataracts — the  booming  of  sea-billows — the  crash  of 


108       LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

the  riven  thunder-cloud — in  these  there  are  no  dia- 
pason music-notes,  nor  choral  symphonies ;  they  are 
simple  sounds — the  untuned  voice  of  Nature  when 
she  cries  aloud:  yet  how  sublime,  without  being 
musical,  is  that  awful  voice !  To  such,  therefore,  as 
have  the  true  perception,  the  Bible  of  all  books  is 
most  comparable  with  the  great  works  of  God — it 
is  so  sublime  in  its  simplicity,  and  so  simple  in  its 
sublimity. 

It  were  easy  to  multiply  examples  of  the  admira- 
ble plainness  and  brevity  of  the  sacred  writers, 
when  descanting  on  subjects  of  the  greatest  sublim- 
ity; but  two  may  suffice.  Suppose,  then,  an  unin- 
spired writer  to  attempt  a  description  of  the 
primeval  chaos,  when  darkness  and  tempest  held 
divided  sovereignty  of  the  ocean-earth ;  how  labored 
his  language  would  be,  we  may  gather  from  reading 
the  description  which  that  most  graphic  of  pens  has 
essayed  in  the  Testimony  of  the  Rocks.  But  how 
brief,  how  simple — sublimely  brief,  majestically  sim- 
ple— is  the  description  by  Moses.  In  a  single  verse, 
containing  not  over  thirty  words,  he  raises  an  image 
of  the  chaos,  which  haunts  the  imagination  as  a 
terror-dream  of  the  night:  ''And  the  earth  was 
without  form,  and  void;  and  darkness  was  upon  the 
face  of  the  deep.  And  the  Spirit-breath  of  the 
Lord  moved  upon  the  face  of  the  waters."  Gen.  i,  2. 
Or  take  his  account  of  the  creation  of  light;  in 
some  six  words  he  strikes  off,  quick  as  the  motion 
of  that  ethereal  substance  whose    creation   he   de- 


THE   SUBLBIE   IN  THE   SCRIPTURES.  109 

scribes,  an  image  which  by  its  sublimity  evoked  an 
encomium  from  even  a  heathen  writer — '^God  said, 
Light  be  !  and  light  was." 

Even  our  greatest  writers,  when  treating  of  sub- 
lime subjects,  are  apt  to  overload  them  with  de- 
scription, and  to  use  language  so  very  gorgeous 
that  the  words  dazzle  the  eye  from  seeing  what 
they  ought  rather  to  reveal.  But  this  is  never  the 
case  with  the  sacred  writers.  Thus,  to  compare 
Milton  and  Job,  in  the  English  bard,  the  ear  is 
often  so  filled  with  the  rhythmical  roll  of  his  ample 
verse,  and  the  eye  all  but  so  oppressed  with  the 
gorgeousness  of  his  diction,  till  what  we  think  of  is 
rather  the  poet's  own  marvelous  power  of  descrip- 
tion, than  the  object  which  he  describes.  Doubtless 
a  great  triumph  this  of  poetic  genius;  but  there  is 
still  a  greater,  which  belongs  to  the  Hebrew  bard, 
who  so  fills  our  minds  with  the  object  described 
that  we  have  no  time  to  think  of  him  who  describes 
it.  In  matchless  poetry  is  the  war-horse  described; 
but  it  is  not  the  rhythm  of  the  poet's  numbers  that 
rings  in  the  ear — it  is  the  clang  of  the  war-steed's 
own  hoofs  as  they  strike  fire  on  the  battle-plain. 
In  poetry  equally  matchless  is  the  behemoth  de- 
scribed; but  it  is  not  the  beauty  or  the  grandeur 
of  the  poet's  language,  great  as  these  are,  that  fills 
the  eye — the  terrible  creature  itself  seems  to  rise 
from  its  ocean  depths,  to  measure  its  gigantic 
strength  with  the  waves  of  the  storm. 

Among  writers  who  have  treated  of  the  sublime, 


110      LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

I  am  not  aware  that  there  is  one  who  has  not 
gone  for  examples  of  it  to  the  sacred  writings. 
Nor  is  this  to  be  wondered  at,  seeing  that  of  all 
writings,  ancient  or  modern,  the  Bible  affords  us 
the  highest  instances  of  the  sublime.  Without 
needlessly  multiplying  examples,  some  few  may  be 
cited  by  way  of  specimens.  In  his  narrative  of 
the  creation,  Moses  has  several  strokes  of  the  true 
sublime,  one  especially,  which  drew  commendation 
from  a  heathen  critic — ''Grod  said,  Light  be!  and 
light  was."  Of  this  passage  Lord  Karnes  justly 
remarks,  "  It  is  scarce  possible,  in  fewer  words,  to 
convey  so  clear  an  image  of  the  infinite  power  of 
the  Deity."  David  is  more  distinguished  by  ten- 
derness and  sweetness  than  by  grandeur  or  sub- 
limity; yet  in  his  Psalms  there  are  many  grand 
and  sublime  passages.  When  he  touches  his  lyre 
to  describe  the  appearances  of  Jehovah  to  the 
ancient  fathers,  the  swelling  strings  rise  above 
their  ordinary  soft  and  tender  sounds  into  a  strain 
of  the  grandest  majesty.  "  What  an  assemblage," 
says  Dr.  Blair,  ''of  awful  and  sublime  ideas  is 
presented  to  us  in  that  passage  in  the  18th  Psalm, 
where  an  appearance  of  the  Almighty  is  described: 
'In  my  distress  I  called  upon  the  Lord,  and  cried 
unto  my  God :  he  heard  my  voice  out  of  his  temple, 
and  my  cry  came  before  him,  even  into  his  ears. 
The  earth  shook  and  trembled;  the  foundations  also 
of  the  hills  moved  and  were  shaken,  because  he  was 
wroth.     There  went  up  a  smoke  out  of  his  nostrils, 


THE    SUBLIME   IN   THE   SCRIPTURES.  Ill 

and  fire  out  of  his  mouth  devoured :  coals  were 
kindled  by  it.  He  bowed  the  heavens  also,  and 
came  down,  and  darkness  was  under  his  feet. 
And  he  rode  upon  a  cherub,  and  did  fly;  yea,  he 
did  fly  upon  the  wings  of  the  wind.  He  made 
darkness  his  secret  place;  his  pavilion  round  about 
him  were  dark  waters  and  thick  clouds  of  the  skies. 
At  the  brightness  that  was  before  him  his  thick 
clouds  passed;  hailstones  and  coals  of  fire.  The 
Lord  also  thundered  in  the  heavens,  and  the  High- 
est gave  his  voice;  hailstones  and  coals  of  fire. 
Yea,  he  sent  out  his  arrows,  and  scattered  them; 
and  he  shot  out  lightnings,  and  discomfited  them. 
Then  the  channels  of  waters  were  seen,  and  the 
foundations  of  the  world  were  discovered  at  thy  re- 
buke, 0  Lord,  at  the  blast  of  the  breath  of  thy 
nostrils.'  Verses  6-15.  Equally  sublime  is  that 
other  description  in  the  77th  Psalm:  "The  waters 
saw  thee,  0  God,  the  waters  saw  thee;  they  were 
afraid:  the  depths  also  were  troubled.  The  clouds 
poured  out  waters ;  the  skies  sent  out  a  sound :  thine 
arrows  also  went  abroad.  The  voice  of  thy  thun- 
der was  in  the  heaven :  the  lightnings  lightened  the 
world:  the  earth  trembled  and  shook.  Thy  way  is 
in  the  sea,  and  thy  path  in  the  great  waters,  and  thy 
footsteps  are  not  known."  Verses  16-19.  "Worthy 
to  be  classed  with  these  is  that  noble  passage  in  the 
prophet  Habakkuk :  ''  God  came  from  Teman,  and 
the  Holy  One  from  Mount  Paran.  Selah.  His 
glory  covered  the  heavens,  and  the  earth  was  full 


112     LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

of  his  praise.  And  his  brightness  was  as  the  light: 
he  had  horns  coming  out  of  his  hand:  and  there 
was  the  hiding  of  his  power.  Before  him  went  the 
pestilence,  and  burning  coals  went  forth  at  his  feet. 
He  stood,  and  measured  the  earth :  he  beheld  and 
drove  asunder  the  nations;  and  the  everlasting 
mountains  were  scattered,  and  the  perpetual  hills 
did  bow;  his  ways  are  everlasting.  I  saw  the  tents 
of  Cushan  in  affliction :  and  the  curtains  of  the  land 
of  Midian  did  tremble.  Was  the  Lord  displeased 
against  the  rivers?  was  thine  anger  against  the 
rivers?  was  thy  wrath  against  the  sea,  that  thou 
didst  ride  upon  thy  horses  and  thy  chariots  of  sal- 
vation ?  Thy  bow  was  made  quite  naked,  according 
to  the  oaths  of  the  tribes,  even  thy  word.  Selah. 
Thou  didst  cleave  the  earth  with  rivers.  The  mount- 
ains saw  thee,  and  they  trembled :  the  overflowing 
of  the  water  passed  by:  the  deep  uttered  his  voice, 
and  lifted  up  his  hands  on  high.  The  sun  and 
moon  stood  still  in  their  habitation :  at  the  light  of 
thine  arrows  they  went,  and  at  the  shining  of  thy 
glittering  spear.  Thou  didst  march  through  the 
land  in  indignation,  thou  didst  thresh  the  heathen 
in  anger.  Thou  wentest  forth  for  the  salvation  of 
thy  people,  even  for  salvation  with  thine  anointed; 
thou  woundedst  the  head  out  of  the  house  of  the 
wicked,  by  discovering  the  foundation  unto  the 
neck.     Selah."     Chap,  iii,  3-13. 

When  the  imagination  is  conducted,  in  a  succes- 
sion of  flights,  over  wide  intervals  of  space — set  off, 


THE   SUBLIME  IN  THE   SCRIPTURES.  113 

as  it  were,  by  an  actual  line  or  measure — the  effect, 
in  the  first  instance,  is  rather  to  lessen  the  idea  of 
infinity;  but  when  the  measuring  line  has  been  ap- 
plied to  the  last  of  these  distances,  and  the  imagina- 
tion is  still  carried  onward,  the  sense  of  bounds  and 
limits  is  suddenly  displaced  by  the  idea  of  a  bound- 
less immensity.  There  is  not  now  any  thing  definite 
by  which  the  wind  can  take  its  bearings — not  any 
thing  substantial  on  which  it  can  rest;  but,  having 
wandered  through  every  part,  and  compassed  the 
boundaries  of  creation,  it  finds  itself  imperceptibly 
gliding  into  the  void  of  infinity,  whose  vast  and 
formless  extent  impresses  it  with  the  sublimest  and 
most  awful  sensations;  and  this  so  much  the  more, 
that  till  now  it  could  measure  its  progress.  There 
are  many  examples  of  this  sort  in  the  sacred  writ- 
ings, from  which  it  will  suffice  to  give  the  fol- 
lowing : 

'•  Canst  thou  explore  the  deep  counsels  of  God  ? 
canst  thou  fathom  the  immensity  of  the  Almighty? 
It  is  higher  than  heaven;  what  canst  thou  do?  it 
is  deeper  than  the  abyss;  what  canst  thou  know? 
The  measure  thereof  is  longer  than  the  earth, 
and  broader  than  the  expanse  of  the  sea."  Job 
xi,  7-9. 

"  Whither  shall  I  go  from  thy  Spirit  ?  and  whither 

shall  I  flee  from  thy  presence?     If  I   ascend   the 

heavens,  thou  art  there;  if  I  make  my  bed  in  the 

abyss,  behold  thou  art  there !     If  I  take  the  wings 

of  the  morning,  and  dwell  in  the  extreme  part  of 

10 


114      LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

the  ocean;  there  also  thy  hand  shall  lead  me,  and 
thy  right  hand  shall  hold  me."  Ps.  cxxxix,  7-10. 
It  is  well  known  that  obscurity  hightens  our  im- 
pressions of  the  sublime;  for  the  imagination,^  lost 
as  in  a  darkling  maze,  becomes  not  only  exhausted, 
but  awe-struck  by  its  own  efforts  to  define  the 
shadowy  vastness,  which  seems  about  to  sink,  ere 
it  can  be  seized,  into  abysmal  night.  Our  own 
Milton  has  some  fine  strokes  of  this  sort;  that  one 
especially  where  he  so  dimly  delineates  the  huge 
bulk  of  the  fallen  archangel: 

"  Thus  Satan  talking  to  his  nearest  mate 
With  head  up-lift  above  the  wave,  and  eyes 
That  sparkling  blazed,  his  other  parts  beside, 
Prone  on  the  flood,  extended  long  and  large. 
Lay  floating  many  a  rood." 

"We  have  a  still  finer  example  in  the  following  pas- 
sage in  the  book  of  Job:  ''In  thoughts  from  the 
visions  of  the  night,  when  deep  sleep  falleth  upon 
men,  fear  came  upon  me,  and  trembling,  which 
made  all  my  bones  to  shake.  Then  a  spirit  stood 
before  my  face;  the  hair  of  my  flesh  stood  up;  it 
stood  still,  but  I  could  not  discern  the  form  there- 
of." Chap,  iv,  13-16.  This  writer  not  only  abounds 
in  sublime  passages,  but  by  the  strength  and  dig- 
nity of  his  conceptions,  and  the  current  of  high 
ideas  that  runs  through  his  whole  composition,  pre- 
serves the  reader's  mind  always  in  a  tone  nearly 
allied  to  the  sublime. 

The  prophet  Isaiah  is  another  writer  who  is  nota- 


THE   SUBLIME  IN  THE   SCRIPTURES.  115 

bly  sublime.  With  wonderful  elevation,  and  sud- 
den as  the  sunward  sweep  of  an  eagle's  wings,  this 
Homer  of  Palestine  begins  his  vision  which  contin- 
ues through  the  reigns  of  four  successive  kings; 
yet  never  once  does  his  muse  flag  or  droop  in  her 
majestic  flight.  Nothing  can  be  conceived  more 
sublime;  nothing  within  the  whole  compass  of  liter- 
ature, ancient  or  modern,  is  to  be  found  so  sublime^ 
The  book  is  throughout  as  a  mighty  Alpine  range, 
with  occasionally  a  Mont  Blanc  towering  its  loftier 
summit,  where  all  is  lofty.  Such  is  the  following 
passage:  "Who  hath  measured  the  waters  in  the 
hollow  of  his  hand,  and  meted  out  heaven  with  the 
span,  and  comprehended  the  dust  of  the  earth  in  a 
measure,  and  weighed  the  mountains  in  scales,  and 
the  hills  in  a  balance  ?  Who  hath  directed  the  Spirit 
of  the  Lord,  or  being  his  counselor,  hath  taught 
him?  With  whom  took  he  counsel,  and  who  in- 
structed him,  and  taught  him  in  the  path  of  judg- 
ment, and  taught  him  knowledge,  and  shewed  to 
him  the  way  of  understanding?  Behold,  the  nations 
are  as  a  drop  of  a  bucket,  and  are  counted  as  the 
small  dust  of  the  balance;  behold,  he  taketh  up  the 
isles  as  a  very  little  thing.  And  Lebanon  is  not 
sufficient  to  burn,  nor  the  beasts  thereof  sufficient 
for  a  burnt  offering.  All  nations  before  him  are  as 
nothing;  and  they  are  counted  to  him  less  than 
nothing,  and  vanity."  Chap,  xl,  12-17.  ''Every 
one,"  says  Dr.  J.  Brown,  in  his  Horce  Suhsecivcs — 
"every  one  must  have  trembled  when  reading  that 


116       LrrERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE   BIBLE. 

passage  in  Isaiah,  in  which  hell  is  described  as 
moved  to  meet  Lucifer  at  his  coming;  there  is  not 
in  human  language  any  thing  more  sublime  in  con- 
ception, more  exquisite  in  expression;  it  has  on  it 
the"  light  of  the  terrible  crystal."  As  additional  ex- 
amples of  the  sublime,  I  would  instance  the  mysteri- 
ous vision  which  passed  before  the  awe-struck  eyes 
of  the  prophet  Elijah  at  the  cave  in  Horeb,  1  Kings 
xix,  11-13 ;  the  amazing  description  of  a  thunder- 
storm in  the  29th  Psalm,  compared  with  which 
those  of  Lucretius,  Virgil,  or  Byron,  great  poets  as 
they  were,  are  prosaically  tame;  that  marvelous 
meditation  upon  the  majesty,  power,  and  providence 
of  God  in  the  lO-lth  Psalm;  the  gorgeous  vision  of 
the  four  cherubim,  overarched  by  the  bow  of  glory, 
which  drew  the  wondering  eye  of  the  son  of  Buzi 
in  the  land  of  the  Chaldeans,  by  the  river  Chebar, 
Ezek.  i;  Daniel's  dream  with  its  mystic  vision  of 
the  Ancient  of  Days — throne-seated  on  the  ruins  of 
empires,  a  fiery  river  rolling  flame  before  him, 
while  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand  ministers  of 
vengeance  wait  but  his  signal  to  sweep  the  earth 
with  their  havoc  wings,  Dan.  vii,  9-14;  Joel's  terri- 
ble picture  of  invading  armies,  innumerable  as 
locust-bands,  wasteful  and  devouring,  Joel  ii;  the 
successive  visions  of  Ezekiel  which,  like  a  magnifi- 
cent panorama,  moved  as  by  a  wizard's  hand,  cause 
the  spectator  to  feel  as  if  he  were  in  a  dream 
of  amazement;  the  equally-gorgeous  visions  in  the 
apocalypse;    and   that   marvelously-sublime  descrip- 


THE   SUBLIME  IN  THE   SCRIPTURES.  117 

tion  of  the  resurrection  wliicli  Paul  gives  in  the 
15th  chapter  of  1st  Corinthians,  closing  with  that 
lyric  outburst,  so  fit  to  be  the  closing  stanza  in  the 
psalm  of  life,  which  is  to  break  from  the  lips  of  im- 
mortality over  the  bier  on  which  death  itself  shall 
be  carried  to  its  grave,  wrapped  in  a  winding-sheet 
of  flame. 

Then  the  Bible  itself,  in  any  view  we  can  take  of 
it,  is  one  of  the  most  striking  instances  of  true  sub- 
limity. It  is  sublime  in  its  very  name — the  Scrip- 
tures, Jehovah's  writings,  God's  book,  in  which  the 
Invisible  One  breaks  the  silence  of  the  eternal  ages, 
divulging  their  awful  mysteries  and  his  own  divinest 
thoughts  to  the  sons  of  men  in  their  human  lan- 
guage. 

It  is  sublime  in  its  antiquity;  sole  monument  of 
primeval  literature;  of  primeval  history;  of  prime- 
val laws;  the  ancient  of  books,  yet  still  the  newest; 
for  as  fresh  and  fair  as  the  rainbow  of  yesterday, 
or  as  the  youngest  primrose  of  early  Spring,  its 
pictures  are  as  vivid,  its  beauties  as  shining,  its 
lessons  as  appropriate,  as  when  Moses  the  proto- 
prophet  wrote  the  first  sentence  on  its  mystic  scroll 
beneath  the  shadows  of  ancient  Sinai. 

It  is  sublime  in  its  unity;  for  though  commenced 
before  the  birth  of  profane  letters  and  not  finished 
till  the  Augustan  age  of  literature  —  though  the 
work  of  forty  difierent  authors,  who,  separated  by 
centuries,  could  not  possibly  have  collusion,  and 
ranging  in  social  position  from  princes  and  lettered 


118      LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE   BIBLE. 

scribes  to  herdsmen  and  unlettered  fishers,  might 
be  supposed  to  differ  widely  in  their  views  and  im- 
pressions; yet  this  wondrous  volume,  which  thus 
grew  to  what  it  now  is,  part  by  part,  slowly,  at 
long  intervals,  under  different  hands,  in  strangely- 
varied  circumstances,  during  one  entire  millennium 
and  half  another,  is  to  be  seen  like  an  unbroken 
bow  stretching  across  the  divided  ages;  the  com- 
pact and  completed  arch  of  truth,  with  one  limb 
resting  on  creation's  prime,  the  other  on  the  end 
of  time;  as  evidently  an  emanation  from  one  Mas- 
ter-Mind,  though  reared  by  forty  different  authors, 
as  the  iris,  though  reflected  by  millions  of  rain- 
drops, is  the  workmanship  of  one  Master-Hand. 

It  is  sublime  in  its  literary  achievements ;  for 
though  composed  by  writers  dwelling  secluded  on 
a  narrow  selvedge  of  Eastern  land,  remote  from  the 
seats  of  classic  literature,  it  has  nevertheless  gone 
out  through  all  the  earth  to  become  the  world's 
book;  though  written  in  two  ancient  languages 
which  are  no  longer  living  tongues,  it  has  notwith- 
standing made  its  voice  to  be  heard  in  the  ver- 
nacular dialects  of  the  scattered  family  of  Adam ; 
though  markedly  Jewivsh  in  its  cast  of  thought,  it 
is  now  incorporated  with  the  literature  and  the  phi- 
losophy of  every  civilized  country  in  both  hemi- 
spheres. 

It  is  sublime  in  its  sufferings  and  in  its  triumphs; 
for  it  has  endured  the  martyr's  death  by  fire,  and 
its  blackened  leaves  have  been  strewn  like  the  mar- 


THE   SUBLIME   IN   THE   SCRIPTURES.  119 

tyr's  calcined  ashes,  on  the  winds  of  heaven  and  the 
waters  of  the  earth;  it  has  been  immured  in  dun- 
geons; has  been  interdicted  by  mailed  princes  and 
mitered  priests;  has  been  denounced  as  a  dangerous 
and  laughed  at  as  a  silly  book;  has  been  a  butt  for 
the  shafts  of  ridicule,  and  a  mark  for  the  arrows  of 
persecution;  the  skeptics  of  modern  times  had  done 
to  it  what  the  ancient  skeptics  did  to  its  Divine 
Master — buried  it  in  the  grave;  and  the  priests  of 
Rome,  after  the  manner  of  the  priests  of  Jerusalem, 
had  rolled  a  stone  on  its  grave's  mouth,  and  sealed 
it  with  a  seal.  But  this  immortal  book  has  come 
forth  from  its  sepulcher,  and  by  many  wonders  and 
signs  has  showed  itself  alive  to  the  people;  it  has 
flung  back  from  its  invulnerable  breast  the  shafts 
of  the  scoffer  and  the  arrows  of  the  skeptic;  has 
shaken  from  its  eagle  wings  the  calumnies  of  slan- 
der; and  as  the  phenix,  not  of  mythologic  fable, 
but  of  heavenly  truth,  it  has  risen  from  its  ashes 
to  light  the  world,  when  the  stormy  bale-fires  of 
superstition  shall  blaze  no  more. 

It  is  sublime  in  the  destiny  which  it  marks  out 
for  itself.  What  is  to  be  the  future  history  of  this 
book?  It  is,  say  some,  by  the  progress  of  science 
and  philosophy  to  be  exploded  as  an  imposture,  a 
myth,  a  dream  of  the  human  mind  while  it  slept 
in  the  lap  of  superstition;  it  is,  say  others,  to  con- 
tinue what  it  is,  a  mysterious  child  of  antiquity, 
mantled  in  its  age  by  the  same  mists  which  lay 
around  the  cradle  of  its  infancy;  it  is,  say  others, 


120      LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

to  come  out  of  the  crucible  of  the  critics,  not  alto- 
gether consumed,  but  with  much  of  the  alloy  which 
mixes  with  its  virgin  gold  burned  away;  it  is,  say 
others,  to  be  supplemented,  and  in  a  great  measure 
superseded,  by  a  new  and  fuller  revelation.  Idle 
prophets  all!  The  book  itself  has  a  sublimer  vatic- 
ination of  its  destiny:  "The  grass  withereth,  and 
the  flower  thereof  falleth  away" — philosophy  may 
perish,  and  science  may  cease,  and  literature  may 
fail — "but  the  word  of  the  Lord  endureth  forever." 
Verily  the  Bible  itself — its  very  existence — the 
bare  idea  of  it,  not  to  speak  of  its  contents,  is  an 
example  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  letters,  oi  the 
truly  sublime. 


THE   PATHETIC   IN   THE   SCRIPTURES.  121 


CHAPTER    VII. 

THE  PATHETIC  IN  THE  SCRIPTURES. 

It  belongs  to  the  pathetic  to  touch  and  set  in  mo- 
tion the  softer  feelings  of  the  breast.  Less  powerful 
perhaps  than  the  sublime,  its  voice  is  more  plaintive 
and  persuasive.  It  seeks  not  to  overawe  and  amaze, 
but  to  merit  and  subdue  the  soul  to  all  tender  emo- 
tions— sympathy  with  the  sorrowing,  pity  for  the 
distressed,  charity  toward  all.  Sighs  are  its  natural 
utterance;  tears  its  natural  signs.  Sublimity  is  as 
the  rush  of  storm  winds  which  wake  up  the  grand 
music  of  the  mighty  forest;  pathos  as  the  breath 
of  zephyrs  when  they  stir  the  gentle  music  of  the 
Aonian  harp.  If  it  needs  less  genius,  it  requires 
more  knowledge  of  human  nature,  and  a  soul  more 
finely  set  to  human  sensibilities,  to  be  a  master  of 
the  pathetic. 

Of  true  pathos,  as  it  vents  itself  in  articulate 
utterance,  there  are  many  touches  exquisitely  affect- 
ing to  be  found  in  the  Scriptures.  David's  lament 
over  Saul  and  Jonathan  is  no  less  remarkable  for  its 
pathetic  tenderness,  than  for  its  lyric  passion.  For 
what  burning  words  of  desolate  grief  are  these, 
which  would  cover  with  a  desolation  equal  to  its 
own,  the  place  where  the  mighty  had  falh 


122       LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE  BIBLE. 

mountains  of  Gilboa,  let  there  be  no  dew,  neither  let 
there  be  rain  upon  you,  nor  fields  of  offerings;  for 
there  the  shield  of  the  mighty  is  vilely  cast  away, 
the  shield  of  Saul,  as  though  he  had  not  been 
anointed  with  oil."  And  then  how  softly  sinks  the 
voice  of  sorrow  after  this  outburst,  into  a  subdued 
plaintiveness,  like  a  sad,  sweet  murmuring  round 
the  heart:  ''I  am  distressed  for  thee,  my  brother 
Jonathan;  very  pleasant  hast  thou  been  unto  me;  thy 
love  to  me  is  wonderful,  passing  the  love  of  women." 
David's  apostrophe  to  his  dead  son  is  a  still  more 
striking  instance  of  the  pathetic :  ''  0  my  son  Absa- 
lom, my  son,  my  son  Absalom!  would  God  I  had 
died  for  thee,  0  Absalom,  my  son,  my  son!"  Nor 
reckon  this  a  passionate  outburst  of  extravagant 
sorrow,  or  the  raving  of  maddened  grief  which 
knows  not  what  wild  words  it  is  uttering;  but  think 
of  the  father  who  had  suffered  such  cruel  wrongs  at 
the  hand  of  this  unnatural  son,  and  then  you  will 
admire  the  pathos  of  paternal  love  which  forgets  all, 
except  that  the  dead  one  was  his  son.  Think,  too, 
not  merely  of  the  untimely  fate,  but  also  of  the 
character  of  the  wretched  youth  who,  without  a 
moment  to  cry  to  Heaven  for  pardon,  had  been  hur- 
ried into  the  eternal  world  with  his  unrepented  sins 
on  his  head;  and,  ah,  no  wonder  that  the  sainted 
father,  who  was  himself  ready  to  meet  death,  should 
in  the  anguish  of  his  pity  and  his  fears  cry  out, 
"Would  God  /had  died  for  thee !"  Take  as  another 
example  of   the    truly  pathetic,  that    incomparable 


THE   PATHETIC  IN  THE   SCRIPTUKES.  128 

monody,  the  137th  Psalm.  Here  at  first  each  word 
comes  slowly  as  a  labored  breathing,  but  gradually 
the  current  swells,  till  at  last  the  surcharged  bosoms 
of  the  exiles  overflow  into  a  torrent  of  grief.  How 
pathetic  also  are  many  of  the  penitential  Psalms, 
where  godly  sorrow  melts  into  a  strain  of  the  most 
tender  repentance !  Though  one  can  not  admire  the 
man,  yet  is  there  something  inexpressibly  touching 
in  Esau's  sorrow,  on  finding  that  his  brother  had 
received  the  parental  blessing:  ''And  when  Esau 
heard  the  words  of  his  father,  he  cried  with  a  great 
and  exceeding  bitter  cry,  and  said  unto  his  father, 
Bless  me,  even  me  also,  my  father!"  As  pictures 
of  natural  tenderness,  what  could  be  more  simply 
touching,  or  more  artlessly  told,  than  the  sacrifice 
of  Isaac,  especially  at  that  part  where  the  unsus- 
pecting victim  says  to  his  father,  "  Beh6ld  the  fire 
and  the  wood,  but  where  is  the  lamb  for  the  burnt 
ofiering?"  Or  the  story  of  Jacob  and  P\;achel;  or 
of  Joseph  and  his  brethren ;  or  of  Ruth  and  Naomi. 
We  challenge  the  whole  circle  of  literature  to  pro- 
duce any  thing  more  truly  pathetic  than  this: 
"And  Ruth  said,  Entreat  me  not  to  leave  thee,  or 
to  return  from  following  after  thee;  for  whither 
thou  goest  I  will  go;  and  where  thou  lodgest  I  will 
lodge;  thy  people  shall  be  my  people,  and  thy  God 
my  God ;  where  thou  diest  will  I  die,  and  there  will 
I  be  buried."  Poets  in  all  ages  have  attempted  to 
describe  the  love  and  constancy  of  woman — who  in 
the  first  mutteriugs  of  the  approaching  storm  trem- 


124       LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

bles  as  the  aspen  leaf;  but  when  the  tempest  breaks 
will  cling  like  the  ivy  to  the  gray  wall,  either  to 
shield  it  or  to  share  its  fall;  but  where  was  ever 
that  constant  love  so  touchingly,  so  truthfully,  yet 
briefly  described,  as  in  these  few  simple  words  of 
Euth  to  Naomi? 

I  have  given  examples  of  the  pathetic  when  its 
affecting  sounds  fall  upon  the  ear,  and  there  lingers 
the  tremulous  echo  of  its  plaintiveness  to  move  the 
memory  with  tender  recollections.  But  the  pathetic 
may  reach  us  through  the  eye  as  well  as  by  the  ear. 
For  there  are  sights,  not  less  than  sounds,  which 
awaken  pathos.  Now  in  this  form  also  of  the 
pathetic  the  Scriptures  abound;  for  they  present 
us  with  many  most  affecting  incidents;  and  here 
one  thing  is  especially  noticeable,  as  showing  how 
perfect  masters  the  sacred  writers  are  of  the  pathetic 
in  narrative;  namely,  that  they  never  try  to  move 
our  passions  by  working  up  a  scene ;  but  with  brev- 
ity and  without  art — unless  we  shall  say  that  art- 
lessness  is  the  perfection  of  art — they  merely  give 
the  simple  narrative,  and  leave  it  to  produce  its 
natural  effect.  How  touching,  for  example,  is  the 
scene  of  the  little  children  in  the  arms  of  Jesus ! 
as  if  innocence,  like  a  frightened  dove,  had  nestled 
in  the  bosom  of  the  Sinless  One;  or  the  scene 
near  the  grave  of  Lazarus,  while  that  single  verse, 
"Jesus  wept,"  is  in  itself  a  very  master-stroke  of 
pathos;  or  the  scene  outside  the  gates  of  Nain, 
where  one  may  scarcely  say  which  afiects  him  most, 


THE   PATHETIC   IN  THE   SCRIPTURES.  125 

the  stricken  sorrow  of  the  widow- mother  who  is 
following  the  bier  of  her  only  son,  or  the  sympa- 
thetic sorrow  of  the  Savior,  who  gets  out  the 
touching  salutation,  ""Weep  not,"  and  then,  as  if 
emotion  had  choked  his  utterance,  could  only  touch 
the  bier  as  a  sign  to  bearers  to  stop.  The  scene  on 
Mount  Olivet  is  also  very  affecting — when  Jesus, 
beholding  the  beautiful  city  lying  at  his  feet  in  all 
the  pride  of  its  magnificence,  unconscious  as  a  sleep- 
ing child  of  its  impending  fate,  wept  over  it.  And, 
most  affecting  of  all,  is  the  farewell  scene  on  the 
cross ;  while  amid  the  agonies  of  a  cruel  death,  the 
Savior,  forgetting  his  own  sore  sufferings  in  his  pity 
for  a  weeping  mother,  but  unable  to  point  to  her — 
for  they  had  nailed  both  of  his  hands — directed  by 
an  ineffable  look  of  tenderness  the  eye  of  his  beloved 
disciple  toward  her  saying,  ''Behold  thy  mother;" 
and  then,  turning  that  same  ineffable  look  on  John 
to  draw  that  mother's  eye  toward  him,  said,  ''Be- 
hold thy  son."  0  pathetic  tenderness,  and  pity 
most  touching !  He  would  not  weep  for  himself, 
though  they  had  crowned  his  brow  with  thorns, 
and  pierced  his  hands  and  feet  with  nails,  and  given 
him  vinegar  and  gall  to  drink  when  suffering  his 
death-thirst;  he  had  not  a  tear  to  shed  till  the 
sight  of  others'  sorrow  opened  the  founts  of  sympa- 
thy, and  then  its  tears  of  pity,  mingling  with  his 
blood  of  sufferincr.  flowed  freelv  forth. 


126      LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OP   THE   BIBLE. 

degree  pathetic;  altliough  we  confess  it  was  not  till 
having  looked  upon  Turner's  rendering  of  it  in  his 
lAher  Studiorum,  that  we  felt  how  a  true  touch  of 
pathos  will  thrill  the  nerves,  as  if  a  spirituous  elec- 
tricity were  suddenly  discharged  along  their  threads. 
The  painter's  sketch  exhibits  a  foreground  of  gloom, 
with  one  bit  of  purest  radiance,  "  a  light  shining  in 
a  dark  place,"  going  out  into  the  illimitable  sky; 
while  a  few  grim  trees  deepen  their  heavy  um- 
brage between  the  dark  and  light;  in  the  center  of 
the  foreground  sits  a  woman  as  if  own  sister  to 
melancholy,  her  face  hidden,  and  in  her  hand  a 
flaming  torch;  around  her  lie  stretched  out  seven 
bodies  as  of  dead  men,  half-naked,  already  indica- 
ting that  foul  decay  had  claimed  the  share  which 
falls  to  it.  There  is  a  lion  seen  slinking  off,  with  a 
sulky,  disappointed  look ;  and  a  bittern,  as  if  scared, 
has  just  sprung  up  in  the  corner  from  a  reedy  pool. 
The  waning  moon  sends  down  a  sickly  paleness  on 
the  barley  sheaves,  just  sufficient  to  let  us  see  that 
it  is  in  the  beginning  of  harvest.  But  who  are  these 
dead?  They  are  the  two  sons  and  five  grandsons 
of  Saul,  who  ''fell  all  seven  together,  and  were  put 
to  death  in  the  days  of  harvest,  in  the  beginning  of 
barley  harvest."  And  who  is  she,  the  living  one, 
who  sits  there  keeping  her  unfailing,  forlorn  vigils? 
She  is  "Rizpah,  the  daughter  of  Aiah,  who  took 
sackcloth,  and  spread  it  for  her  on  the  rock,  from 
the  beginning  of  harvest,  until  water  dropped  upon 
them  out  of  heaven,  and   suffered  neither  birds  of 


THE    PATHETIC   IN   THE    SCRIPTURES.  127 

the  air  to  rest  upon  them,  nor  the  beasts  of  the 
field  by  night."  The  wonderful  genius  of  the  painter 
brought  the  entire  scene  before  us,  and  held  our 
eye  as  if  spell-fixed  on  that  desolate  mother,  who 
for  five  months — still  at  her  ceaseless  work,  morn, 
noon,  and  night — kept  watch  by  the  bodies  of  her 
sons. 

There  is  still  a  third  form  of  the  pathetic,  when, 
rather  by  the  force  of  association  than  by  what  we 
actually  see  or  hear,  our  feelings  are  tenderly  af- 
fected. And  in  this  form,  also,  there  abounds  true 
pathos  in  the  Scriptures.  For  example,  there  is 
something  profoundly  touching  in  the  magnanimous 
pity  which  noble  minds  feel  for  objects  which  minds 
less  noble  would  deem  beneath  their  notice.  Hence 
the  pleasing  emotion  with  which  one  reads  these 
lines  of  the  poet  Cowper: 

**  I  would  not  enter  on  my  list  of  friends 
The  man  who,  needlessly,  sets  foots  upon  a  worm." 

Or  these  lines  by  a  still  greater  poet — 

"  The  sense  of  death  is  most  in  apprehension  j 
And  the  poor  beetle  that  we  tread  upon, 
In  corporal  sufferance  finds  a  pang 
As  great  as  when  a  giant  dies." 

But  how  exquisitely  more  touching  are  some 
similar  passages  in  Scripture !  As  this,  for  example, 
where  it  is  the  Infinite  One  who  speaks:  ''And 
should  not  I  spare  Nineveh,  that  great  city,  wherein 
are  more  than  six  score  thousand  persons  that  can 
not   discern  their  riprht  hand  and   their  left  hand. 


128       LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE   BIBLE. 

and  also  much  cattle?"  Or  this  other,  where  it  is 
the  Divine  Son  who  speaks,  and  of  his  Divine  Father 
he  says  it :  "  Are  not  five  sparrows  sold  for  two 
farthings,  and  not  one  of   them  is  forgotten  before 

God Consider  the  ravens,  for  they 

neither  sow  nor  reap,  which  neither  have  store-house 
nor  barn,  and  God  feedeth  them." 

Again,  through  the  power  of  association,  few 
things  more  sadly  affect  us  than  the  sight  of  fallen 
greatness.  As  we  look  on  a  ruinous  castle,  its  old 
walls,  scarred  by  the  pitiless  storms,  or  blackened 
by  the  fiery  brand  of  war,  seem  plaintively  to  echo 
with  the  memories  of  other  days,  when  the  sound  of 
revelry  rang  through  these  now  deserted  halls,  and 
chivalry  mustered  its  mailed  knights  and  men-at- 
arms  on  those  ramparts,  where  now  the  melancholy 
owl  has  built  her  secluded  nest;  and  where  it  is  a 
moral  ruin — some  noble  nature  that  has  fallen,  or 
some  mighty  kingdom  that  has  wasted  away,  or 
some  profligate  city  which  has  been  overtaken  with 
a  sudden  destruction — our  feelings  are  still  more 
profoundly  melancholy.  Now,  where  will  you  find 
so  aff'ecting  instances  either  of  the  material  or  the 
moral  ruin,  as  are  furnished  in  the  Scriptures? 
There,  with  pathetic  sadness,  you  gaze  on  the  phys- 
ical desolation  which  has  fallen  upon  the  earth,  smit- 
ing its  soil  with  barrenness,  and  glooming  its  sky 
with  storm-clouds,  till  its  fairest  parts  are  now  but 
as  the  wreck  of  Paradise.  There,  also,  with  sadness 
still  more  pathetic,  you  look  upon  the  fall  of  prime- 


THE   PATHETIC  IN  THE   SCRIPTURES.  129 

val  man,  the  parent  of  our  race;  and  upon  the  fall 
of  beings  loftier  even  than  man — the  apostate  angels. 
And  as  one  reads  the  ancient  prophets,  when  their 
predictions  are  messages  of  doom,  there  often  seems 
to  mingle  with  the  words  of  vengeance  a  plaintive 
wail,  as  if  the  avenging  seer,  touched  with  pity,  but 
not  permitted  to  revoke  the  denunciations,  closes 
them  with  a  death-dirge  for  the  fallen.  Thus,  with 
a  touch  of  the  deepest  pathos,  does  Isaiah  describe 
the  downfall  of  a  once  mighty  monarch : 

*'  How  art  thou  fallen  from  heaven, 
Lucifer,  son  of  the  morning  ! 
How  thou  art  felled  to  the  ground 
That  didst  weaken  the  nations  !" 

So,  also,  does  the  prophet  Nahum,  with  an  imagery 
not  less  splendid  than  it  is  pathetic,  mourn  the 
departed  glory  of  the  capital  of  Assyria:  "Thou 
hast  multiplied  thy  merchants  above  the  stars  of 
heaven;  the  canker-worm  spoileth,  and  fleeth  away. 
Thy  crowned  are  as  the  locusts,  and  thy  captains 
as  the  great  grasshoppers  which  camp  in  the  hedges 
on  a  cold  day;  but  when  the  sun  riseth  they  flee 
away,  and  the  place  is  not  known  where  they  are." 
And  then  how  sublimely  pensive  the  requiem  sound- 
ed over  the  graves  of  her  slain:  "Thy  shepherds 
slumber,  0  king  of  Assyria;  thy  nobles  shall  dwell 
in  the  dust ;  thy  people  is  scattered  upon  the  mount- 
ains, and  no  man  gathereth." 

When  the  pathos  is   of  the  kind  we  have  been 
describing — that  is,  implied  rather  than  expressed, 


130      LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

sometimes  tlie  turn  of  a  phrase,  or  a  single  word, 
will  start  a  whole  train  of  the  most  tender  emo- 
tions. Many  notable  instances  of  this  are  to  be 
found  in  the  Scriptures.  At  the  Last  Supper,  the 
Savior,  in  giving  the  broken  bread  to  his  disciples, 
said  unto  them:  ''Do  this  in  remembrance  of  me." 
When  one  reads  these  few  and  simple  words,  in  view 
of  the  memorial  institution,  what  a  flood  of  tender- 
ness they  pour  round  the  heart !  Do  this  in  remem- 
brance of  thee! — this  to  show  forth  what  thou,  my 
Savior,  didst  endure  for  me !  Yes,  since  thou  hast 
so  commanded,  I  will  do  this.  But  0,  it  tells  not 
the  thousandth  part  of  thy  willing  sufferings  for  me ! 
That  bread  which  I  see  broken,  it  feels  no  pain;  but 
when  thy  body  was  broken  for  me,  it  was  pierced 
with  bleeding  pangs.  That  wine  which  I  see  poured 
forth,  it  felt  no  pain  when  it  was  pressed  from  the 
grape;  but  when  thou  wast  in  the  wine-press  of  thy 
Father's  wrath,  thy  soul  was  exceedingly  sorrowful, 
even  unto  death.  Another  touching  instance  of 
suggested  pathos  is  to  be  found  in  the  words  which 
the  angel  addressed  to  the  women  at  the  sepulcher: 
*'Be  not  affrighted;  ye  seek  Jesus  of  Nazareth  who 
was  crucified;  he  is  risen,  he  is  not  here;  behold 
the  place  where  they  laid  him.  But  go  your  way, 
tell  his  disciples  and  Peter  that  he  goeth  before  you 
into  Galilee;  there  shall  ye  see  him,  as  he  said  unto 
you."  Mark  xvi,  6,  7.  There  is  something  inex- 
pressibly touching  in  the  individual  mention  of  Pe- 
ter by  name,  seeing  that,  while  the  others  were 


THE   PATHETIC   IN   THE   SCRIPTURES.  131 

plunged  in  grief,  his  sorrow  was  far  more  poignant; 
for  he  had  denied  that  Lord  whose  living  voice  he 
now  feared  he  would  hear  no  more.  How  touching, 
in  this  view,  is  the  sympathy  which  this  angelic  be- 
ing shows  for  the  sorrowing  Peter!  It  is  as  if  he 
had  said,  ''Tell  the  glad  news  to  all;  but  be  sure 
especially  that  ye  tell  it  to  him  whose  heart  is  op- 
pressed with  a  double  sorrow."  We  have  another 
instance  of  suggested  pathos  in  what  might  be  called 
the  masked  reproof  which  Jesus  gave  to  Peter  after 
his  resurrection.  Three  times  he  said  unto  him, 
"Lovest  thou  me?"  How  keen,  yet  how  tender 
the  reproof  conveyed  in  the  thrice-repeated  ques- 
tion, for  thrice-repeated  had  been  Peter's  denial  of 
his  Lord! 

Such  examples  of  the  pathetic  as  I  have  instanced 
or  alluded  to  may,  perhaps,  have  their  parallels  in 
other  writings;  for  the  masters  of  literature  have, 
in  all  ages,  striven  to  show  their  powers  of  pathos. 
But  in  the  Scriptures  there  are  instances  of  a  pa- 
thos which  can  be  found  in  no  other  book;  because 
in  no  other  book  is  Jehovah  heard  pleading  with  his 
sinful  creatures,  or  the  Son  of  God  with  his  Divine 
Father.  Here  we  find  ourselves  on  ground  which  is 
solemnly  sacred,  and  feel  that  we  are  listening  to 
accents  which  are  mysteriously  pathetic.  For  hear 
in  what  moving  appeals  the  Holy  Infinite  addresses 
the  sin-defiled  potsherds  of  the  earth:  ''As  I  live, 
saith  the  Lord,  I  have  no  pleasure  in  him  that 
dieth."     "Look  unto  me  and  be  ye  saved,  all  ye 


132      LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

ends  of  the  earth."  "Turn  ye,  turn  ye,  why  will 
ye  die?"  "All  day  long  have  I  stretched  out  my 
hands  to  a  disobedient  and  gainsaying  people." 
Surely  this  is  pathos — the  Jehovah  pleading,  striv- 
ing, entreating  with  sinners;  the  voice  of  the  Al- 
mighty tremulous  with  emotion;  the  great  heart 
of  the  Infinite  heaving  with  the  earnestness  of  its 
compassions;  the  hands  that  created  the  universe 
stretched  out  as  a  supplicant's,  to  draw  the  wan- 
derers back  to  an  injured  Father's  love — this  is  pa- 
thos to  which  we  vainly  search  for  a  parallel  in  any 
other  writings,  either  ancient  or  modern. 

Again  listen:  The  Son  of  God  had  consented,  for 
the  sons  of  men,  to  drink  the  cup  of  human  agonies 
and  of  Divine  wrath;  and  while  within  the  shad- 
ows of  this  mysterious  suffering,  hear  how  that 
Son,  agonizing  unto  tears,  pleads  with  his  Father — 
that  same  Father  in  whose  bosom,  in  Divinest  com- 
panionship, he  had  lain  from  the  unbeginning  ages: 
"Father,  if  it  be  possible,  let  this  cup  pass  from 
me."  "Now  is  my  soul  troubled  and  what  shall  I 
say?  Father,  save  me  from  this  hour."  "My  God, 
my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me?"  Mysterious 
pathos !  My  pen  has  copied  its  weeping  words,  but 
what  pen  could  write  its  bleeding  thoughts?  When 
man  pleads  with  his  fellow-man,  or  when  human  son 
appeals  to  human  father,  there  is  a  chord  in  my 
breast  responsive  to  each  pathetic  word.  But  when 
it  is  the  Son  of  God  I  hear,  in  agony,  in  tears,  in 
blood,   in    desertion,    at    the    dark    hour   of   death, 


THE   PATHETIC   IN   THE   SCRIPTURES.  133 

pleading  with  his  Father,  all  the  chords  of  my 
breast  tremble  with  an  undefinable  emotion,  and 
my  whole  soul  is  awe-struck  with  the  conscious 
feeling  that  here  is  a  pathos  infinitely  beyond  what 
I  can  ever  feel,  far  less  express. 

If  under  the  head  of  the  pathetic  we  include  what 
in  oratory  is  called  persuasion^  when  a  speaker,  in 
order  to  carry  with  him  the  sympathy  of  his  audi- 
ence, addresses  their  passions,  we  shall  find  exam- 
ples of  this  description  of  pathos  in  the  Scriptures 
which  neither  ancient  nor  modern  eloquence  excels. 
The  writings  of  Paul  are  preeminently  pathetic,  in 
this  sense.  They  furnish,  indeed,  a  model  to  the 
orator  by  their  just  combination  of  the  argumenta- 
tive and  the  hortatory.  For  this  great  logician 
invariably  prepares  the  way  for  any  persuasive  ap- 
peal by  first  addressing  the  understanding  of  his 
readers,  so  as  to  produce  conviction;  and  when,  by 
argument  and  reasoning,  he  has  succeeded  in  doing 
this,  then  he  shows  himself  an  equal  master  of  rhet- 
oric in  the  appeals  by  which  he  seeks  to  touch  the 
heart.  The  entire  epistle  to  the  Eomans  is  an  un- 
rivaled example  of  this  happy  union  of  the  argu- 
mentative and  persuasive,  in  which  it  were  difficult 
to  say  which  is  the  more  to  be  admired,  the  rigor- 
ous exactness  in  the  former  or  the  passionate  fervor 
in  the  latter.  Certainly  the  maxim  ars  est  celare 
artem  never  was  more  finely  illustrated  than  in 
some  of  those  sudden  outbursts  in  which  this  writer. 


134      LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE  BIBLE. 

with  apparent  abruptness,  yet  in  no  instance  till 
after  due  preparation,  gives  vent  to  his  own  impas- 
sioned feelings.  There  is  a  seeming  impetuosity  in 
these  sudden  appeals  which  takes  the  heart,  as  it 
were,  by  storm;  yet,  when  you  analyze  the  effect, 
you  find  it  due,  in  no  small  part,  also  to  the  pre- 
paratory argument.  And  the  great  art  of  the  sa- 
cred orator  is  to  be  seen  in  this,  that,  having  firmly 
riveted  the  subject  on  the  understanding  of  his  read- 
ers, he  seizes  the  critical  moment  that  is  favorable 
to  emotion,  and  kindles  their  passions  before  they 
are  aware. 

This  truly-great  master  of  the  persuasive  will  be 
found  to  exhibit  every  species  of  excellence  in  this 
department  of  eloquence.  You  will  find,  for  exam- 
ple, that  when  he  is  pathetic  the  subject  is  uni- 
formly such  as  to  admit  of  pathos.  He  never  at- 
tempts to  excite  the  passions  in  the  wrong  place. 
When  he  warms  and  kindles  with  his  theme,  his 
readers  can  not  fixil  to  be  convinced  that  there  is 
good  and  sufficient  reason  for  his  warmth;  and,  on 
their  catching  his  ardor,  they  remain  satisfied  that 
they  have  not  been  carried  away  by  a  mere  delu- 
sion. Again,  you  never  find  him  sounding  a  note 
of  warning  that  he  is  about  to  be  pathetic;  or  call- 
ing upon  his  readers  to  prepare  themselves  to  be 
moved.  This  expedient,  sometimes  resorted  to  by 
less  skilled  orators,  seldom  fails  to  have  the  opposite 
effect;  for,  instead  of  disposing  them  to  be  moved, 
it  rather  disposes  them  to  criticise.     Then,  also,  you 


THE  PATHETIC  IN  THE   SCRIPTURES.  135 

can  see  that  it  is  the  internal  emotions  of  the  writer 
himself  which  gives  their  pathos  to  his  words;  and 
thus  he  fulfills  one  of  the  prime  conditions  of  being 
pathetic — namely^  that  when  we  would  move  others 
we  must  ourselves  be  moved.  Then,  besides,  Paul's 
style  in  these  persuasive  appeals  exhibits  the  proper 
language  of  the  passions.  It  is  precisely  such  as  a 
person  under  the  power  of  a  strong  emotion  would 
employ — bold,  ardent,  simple.  In  his  argumentative 
parts  the  style  is  often  involved  and  parenthetical; 
but  in  those  parts  where  he  has  become  heated  with 
his  subjects,  and  aims  at  persuasive  appeal,  we  per- 
ceive a  marked  difference  in  the  style.  Instead  of 
involved  periods,  the  sentences  are  short,  rapid, 
terse;  the  parentheses  are  fewer;  there  is  a  force, 
almost  a  vehemence  in  the  language;  and  if  there 
occurs  occasionally  a  bold  figure,  yet  is  there  an 
entire  absence  of  any  thing  like  art  or  labor.  In 
short,  it  is  the  very  style  of  the  orator  when  he 
wishes  to  be  persuasive. 

I  have  treated  separately  on  the  pathetic  and  the 
sublime,  but  when  pathos  is  carried  to  its  highest 
pitch,  it  may  in  truth  be  said  to  have  become  sub- 
limity. This  is  specially  the  case  in  the  language 
of  the  passions,  such  as  love,  admiration,  joy,  shame, 
remorse,  and  hatred.  Then  the  pathetic  and  sublime 
might  be  compared  to  two  tremulous  drops  on  the 
same  string,  which  touch,  tremble,  and  unite.  Now 
we   know   no   book  which    contains    more    striking 


136      LITERARY   CUARACTERISTICS   OF  THE  BIBLE. 

examples  of  the  sublime  of  passion  tlian  are  to  be 
found  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures.  There  we  shall 
find  admiration  breaking  forth  into  bold  and  ele- 
vated utterances;  joy  exulting  in  its  still  more  bold 
and  elevated  strains;  resentment  flinging  forth  its 
withering,  scornful  words;  grief,  not  only  in  its 
stricken  sorrow  when  it  sits  with  bowed  head  speech- 
less in  the  dust,  but  also  when  it  rises  in  the  frenzy 
of  its  anguish,  and  becomes  heated  almost  to  fury 
and  madness;  remorse,  when  it  smites  the  breast  as 
in  self-revenge,  and  stings  itself  with  the  bitterness 
of  its  own  wild  regrets. 

Admiration,  if  the  object  which  has  excited  it  is 
of  a  lofty  cast,  fills  the  mind  with  great  and  mag- 
nificent conceptions  and  sentiments,  which  it  ex- 
presses in  language  which  is  bold,  elevated,  and 
glowing — in  sentences  abrupt,  energetic,  concise,  and 
rapid.     Take  the  following  examples: 

"Jehovah  reigneth;  let  the  people  tremble:  he 
sitteth  upon  the  cherubim;  let  the  earth  be  moved." 
Ps.  xcix,  1. 

''Who  is  like  unto  thee  among  the  gods,  0  Jeho- 
vah? who  is  like  unto  thee,  adorable  in  holiness, 
fearful  in  praises,  who  workest  wonders?  Thou 
extendest  thy  right  hand,  the  earth  swalloweth 
them."     Exod.  xv,  11,  12. 

''0  the  depth  of  the  riches  both  of  the  wisdom 
and  knowledge  of  God!  how  unsearchable  are  his 
judgments,  and  his  ways  past  finding  out."  Kom. 
xi,  33. 


THE   PATHETIC  IN.  THE   SCRIPTURES.  137 

"Behold  what  manner  of  love  the  Father  hath 
bestowed  upon  us,  that  we  should  be  called  the  sons 
of  God!"     1  Johniii,  1. 

Joy  is  still  more  elevated,  exults  in  a  bolder  strain, 
and  comes  with  a  rush  from  a  deeper  fountain  of 
the  breast.  This  passion  kindles  on  the  holy  page 
with  its  most  sacred  ardors,  those  which  a  sense  of 
the  Divine  favor  and  benignity  inflames.  It  seizes 
upon  the  most  splendid  imagery,  which  it  adorns 
with  the  most  animated  language;  it  revels,  as  it 
were,  in  the  luxury  of  its  high  delights,  nor  does  it 
hesitate  to  risk  the  most  daring  and  unusual  figures. 
The  Song  of  Moses,  of  Deborah  and  Barak,  exhibit 
the  loftiest  sublimity  of  exultant  joy,  both  in  the 
sentiment  and  the  language.  In  the  96th  Psalm 
what  noble  exultation,  what  lofty  tone  of  triumph, 
where  the  whole  animate  and  inanimate  creation 
unite  in  one  grand  lyric  of  praise  to  their  Maker! 
And  even  in  that  higher  state  of  unalloyed  fruition, 
where  no  sigh  mingles  with  the  voice  of  happiness, 
and  where  all  tears  are  wiped  from  every  eye,  does 
not  the  following  realize  our  fullest  conception  of 
what  would  be  the  language  of  beatific  joy?  ''And 
they  sung  a  new  song,  saying,  Thou  art  worthy  to 
take  the  book  and  to  open  the  seals  thereof;  for 
thou  wast  slain,  and  hast  redeemed  us  to  God  by 
thy  blood  out  of  every  kindred,  and  tongue,  and 
people,  and  nation;  and  hast  made  us  unto  our  God 
kings  and  priests ;  and  we  shall  reign  on  the  earth." 

In  the   representation  of  anger  and  indignation. 


138      LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE   BIBLE. 

particularly  when  the  Divine  wrath  is  displayed, 
nothing  can  be  greater  or  more  magnificent  than 
what  of  this  sort  is  to  be  met  with  in  the  Scrip- 
tures. The  words  burn.  Every  utterance  is  as  a 
flashing  stroke.  The  language  withers  as  the  fierce 
wind  of  the  desert. 

*'  For  the  day  of  vengeance  was  in  my  heart, 
And  the  year  of  my  redeemed  was  come. 
And  I  looked,  and  there  was  no  one  to  help ; 
And  I  was  astonished  that  there  was  no  one  to  uphold; 
Therefore  my  own  arm  wrought  salvation  for  me. 
And  mine  indignation  itself  sustained  me. 
And  I  trod  down  the  people  in  mine  anger; 
And  I  crushed  them  in  mine  indignation  ; 
And  I  spilled  their  life-blood  on  the  ground." 

Is.  Ixiii,  4-6. 

Grief,  in  its  more  impassioned  attitude,  when  its 
fury  sustains  it,  and  its  voice  has  in  it  a  tone  of 
frenzy,  vehement,  fervid,  acute,  requires  a  hand  at 
once  bold  and  delicate  rightly  to  depict  it.  But  we 
shall  find  this  done  with  great  success  by  the  sacred 
penmen.  Take  the  following  from  Job  as  translated 
by  Mr.  Scott.     Job  vi,  2,  3,  4,  8,  9. 

"  0  for  a  balance  poised  with  equal  hand  I 
Lay  all  my  sorrows  there  'gainst  ocean's  sand  : 
Light  is  the  sand  whereon  the  billows  roll, 
When  weighed  with  all  the  sorrows  of  my  soul. 
Ah  I  therefore,  therefore,  does  my  boiling  wo© 
In  such  a  torrent  of  wild  words  o'erflow ; 
Rankling  I  feel  th'  Almighty's  venomed  dart. 
His  arrows  fire  my  veins  and  rend  my  heart; 
His  terrors  'gainst  me  throng  in  dire  array. 
War  urging  war,  his  boundless  wrath  display. 
0.  that  relenting  at  my  earnest  cry, 


THE  PATHETIC  IN  THE   SCRIPTURES.  139 

God  would  extend  his  thund'ring  arm  on  high ; 

Ruthless  at  once  his  smold'ring  trident  throw, 
And,  forcing  through  his  mark  the  vengeful  blow, 
At  once  destroy  me." 

Both  in  the  excitation  and  expression  of  terror, 
the  sacred  writers  show  themselves  to  be  masters  in 
the  sublime  of  passion.  What  a  terrific  representa- 
tion, at  which  dismay  might  well  stand  aghast,  is 
the  following  by  Isaiah : 

"  Howl  ye  for  the  day  of  Jehovah  is  at  hand  : 
As  a  destruction  from  the  Almighty  shall  it  come. 
Therefore  shall  all  hands  be  slackened; 
And  the  heart  of  every  mortal  shall  melt; 
And  they  shall  be  terrified ; 
Torments  and  pangs  shall  seize  them ; 
As  a  woman  in  travail  they  shall  be  pained : 
They  shall  look  upon  one  another  with  astonishment; 
Their  countenances  shall  be  like  flames  of  fire. 
Behold,  the  day  of  Jehovah  cometh  inexorable ; 
Even  indignation  and  burning  wrath  ; 
To  make  the  land  a  desolation ; 
And  her  sinners  shall  he  destroy  from  out  of  her. 
Yea,  the  stars  of  heaven,  and  the  constellations  thereof, 
Shall  not  send  forth  their  light : 
The  sun  is  darkened  at  his  going  forth, 
And  the  moon  shall  not  cause  her  light  to  shine. 
And  I  will  visit  the  world  for  its  evil. 
And  the  wicked  for  their  iniquity  ; 
And  I  will  put  an  end  to  the  arrogance  of  the  proud  ; 
And  I  will  bring  down  the  haughtiness  of  the  terrible. 
I  will  make  a  mortal  more  precious  than  fine  gold ; 
Yea,  a  man  than  the  rich  gold  of  Ophir. 
Wherefore  I  will  make  the  heavens  tremble ; 
And  the  earth  shall  be  shaken  out  of  her  place. 
In  the  indignation  of  Jehovah,  God  of  hosts." 

Is.  xiii,  6-13. 

As  an  example  of  vehement  grief,  hightened  by 
terror,  I  would  cite  the  remarkable  vision,  in  which 


140     LITERARY   CnARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

Jeremiah  exhibits  the  impending  slaughter  and  de- 
struction of  Judea: 

**  My  bowels,  my  bowels  are  pained,  the  walls  of  my  heart ; 
My  heart  is  troubled  within  me  ;  I  can  not  be  silent; 
Because  I  have  heard  the  sound  of  the  trumpet, 
My  soul  the  alarm  of  war. 

Destruction  has  come  upon  the  heels  of  destruction  ; 
Surely  the  whole  land  is  spoiled  ; 
On  a  sudden  have  my  tents  been  spoiled ; 
My  curtains  in  an  instant. 
How  long  shall  I  see  the  standard  ? 
Shall  I  hear  the  sound  of  the  trumpet? 
I  beheld  the  earth,  and  lo  1  disorder  and  confusion  ; 
The  heavens  also,  and  there  was  no  light." 

Jer.  iv,  19-23. 

To  this  I  would  add  that  brief  passage  in  the 
Revelation,  which  by  a  single  stroke  raises  such  an 
image  of  anguish  mingled  with  terror:  "Behold,  he 
Cometh  with  the  clouds;  and  every  eye  shall  see 
him,  and  they  also  who  pierced  him:  and  all  kin- 
dreds of  the  earth  shall  wail  because  of  him.'' 


'IllE   PICTURESQUE   IN   THE   SCRIPTURES.  141 


CHAPTER    YIII. 

THE  PICTURESQUE  IN  THE  SCRIPTURES. 

The  picturesque  in  writing  is  the  art  of  repre- 
senting objects  of  vision,  and  presenting  to  the  im- 
agination any  circumstance  or  event  as  clearly  as  if 
they  were  delineated  ia  a  picture ;  or,  more  briefly, 
it  may  be  defined  word-painting. 

The  picturesque  in  the  sacred  writings  has  not, 
we  think,  received  that  consideration  from  our  crit- 
ics which  the  subject  merits;  and,  in  consequence, 
full  justice  has  not  been  done  to  amazing  pictorial 
powers  of  the  sacred  writers.  Our  limits,  however, 
will  permit  us  to  do  little  more  than  draw  attention 
to  this  interesting  branch  of  Biblical  literature. 

If  we  take  first  the  Bible  descriptions  of  domestic 
and  familiar  life,  we  shall  find  that  they  have  all 
the  efi'ects  of  a  picture.  One  might  compare  them 
to  a  painting  by  Rembrandt,  or  perhaps  rather  by 
Sir  David  Wilkie,  who  knew  so  well,  by  a  few  soft 
touches,  how  to  mellow  the  quaint  picturesqueness 
of  homely  life  into  the  poetry  of  sentiment.  How 
very  graphic,  for  example,  are  the  delineations 
which  the  author  of  Genesis  has  given  us  of  the 
simple  manners  of  the  patriarchs !  The  entire  book 
may  be  regarded  as  one  continued  picture-gallery. 


142       LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE   J7ITJLE. 

or,  we  might  say  rather,  a  series  of  tableaux  vi- 
vants,  which,  with  wonderful  animation  and  dis- 
tinctness, restore  to  us  the  men  and  the  manners 
of  a  long  by-gone  age.  Abraham  sitting  in  his  tent 
door;  Isaac  going  forth  to  the  fields  at  even-tide  to 
meditate;  old  Jacob  weeping  on  the  neck  of  his 
long-lost  son — these,  and  many  similar,  are  as  viv- 
idly before  our  eyes  as  if  we  were  looking  on  so 
many  pictures  hung  round  our  household  walls. 

In  order  to  picturesqueness,  especially  in  the 
delineation  of  homely  incidents,  there  needs  to  be 
an  air  of  verisimilitude,  which  only  some  natural 
touches,  without  the  appearance  of  design,  can  im- 
part.    As  has  been  said: 

"  One  touch  of  nature  makes  the  whole  world  kin  ;'* 

•and  when  the  poet,  painter,  or  historian,  has  turned 
this  maxim  to  account,  no  matter  how  remote  the 
age  or  alien  the  manners  which  he  describes,  his 
description  will  at  once  come  home  with  all  the 
force  and  freshness  of  reality.  We  find  this  often 
verified  in  the  Scriptures.  How  true  to  nature,  by 
one  single  touch,  has  Moses  described  an  incident  in 
the  deluge !  With  spent  strength  and  drooping  wing 
the  dove  has  barely  been  able  to  reach  the  ark — a 
moment's  delay,  and  the  weary  bird  might  fall  into 
the  surging  flood;  but  "Noah  put  forth  his  hand 
and  took  her  and  pulled  her  in  unto  him  into  the 
ark."  The  scene  before  Abraham's  tent  door  in  the 
plains   of   Mamri),   \\hen   he   entertained   the   three 


THE   PICTURESQUE   IN  THE   SCRIPTURES.         143 

augels,  is  picturesquely  described  throughout;  but 
one  part  especially  is  rendered  true  to  the  life  by  a 
single  natural  touch.  It  is  where  Sarah's  incredu- 
lousness  that  she  would  become  a  mother  in  her  old 
age  is  described.  The  thing  appeared  to  her  utterly 
ludicrous,  but  open  laughter  would  have  been  dia 
courteous  to  the  strangers;  nor  would  it  have  con- 
sisted with  the  modesty  of  her  sex,  on  such  a  sub- 
ject to  have  betrayed  outward  emotion.  A  smile 
rose  to  her  lips,  but  courtesy  and  modesty  repressed 
the  laugh — "Sarah  laughed  within  her  self. ''  Tho 
first  interview  between  Isaac  and  Eebekah  has  its 
picturesqueness  greatly  hightened  by  some  natural 
touches.  When  we  read  that  Isaac  has  chosen  the 
shades  of  even-tide  and  its  pensive  hour  to  go  into 
the  fields  to  meditate,  it  seems  so  natural  in  the  ex- 
pectant lover,  to  whom  doubtless  hope  had  begun 
to  whisper  that  the  looked-for  one  must  now  be  on 
the  way.  And  then  Eebekah,  the  betrothed  bride, 
lets  out  with  charming  naivete  of  whom  she  was 
thinking  by  her  question,  "What  man  is  this  who 
walketh  in  the  field  to  meet  ics?"  On  hearing,  as 
no  doubt  she  expected,  that  it  was  Isaac,  a  fond 
impatience  caused  her  to  alight  from  her  camel,  for 
she  had  been  too  simply  brought  up  to  act  a  pru- 
dish part;  yet  true  to  her  sex's  modesty  she  drops 
her  vail  to  conceal  from  him,  at  their  first  meeting, 
her  blushing  charms.  David's  Hymn  of  the  Cap- 
tives has  always  struck  us  by  one  exquisite  touch 
of  nature  which  is  in  it.     The  philosophy  of  laugh- 


144       LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS    OF   THE   BIBLE. 

ter  is  perhaps  deeper  than  even  that  of  tears.  We 
laugh  when  merry,  and  we  laugh  when  sad.  Our 
tears  and  our  laughter  sometimes  strangely  blend. 
It  was,  therefore,  a  most  natural  stroke  in  the  poet 
to  make  the  manumitted  captives  say,  in  the  sud- 
denness of  an  unexpected  joy:  "Then  was  our 
mouth  filled  with  laughter  and  our  tongue  with 
singing."  Ps.  cxxvi.  In  giving  one  other  example 
how  these  touches  of  nature  highten  the  picturesque, 
I  shall  turn  to  the  New  Testament,  where  I  select 
the  account  which  is  given  of  the  miracle  which 
followed  close  upon  the  day  of  Pentecost — Acts  iii, 
1-11.  The  entire  incident  is  very  graphically  de- 
scribed, and  the  grouping  of  the  picture  is  quite 
picturesque — the  Temple  in  the  background;  the 
lame  man,  laid  at  one  of  its  gates — it  is  that  which 
is  called  Beautiful — to  ask  alms;  the  two  apostles 
about  to  pass  through  it,  conspicuous  among  the 
crowd  who  are  thronging  in,  for  it  is  the  hour  of 
prayer.  Here  was  a  fit  subject  for  Eaphael's  pencil, 
who,  selecting  the  moment  when  the  miracle  was 
being  wrought,  has  succeeded  in  catching  the  nat- 
ural expression  of  the  cripple — astonishment  blended 
with  delight,  and  hope  with  fear,  lest  all  might  turn 
out  to  be  a  dream;  and  also  his  natural  attitude, 
combining  agility  with  awkwardness,  since  now  for 
the  first  time  these  forty  years  has  he  used  his  limbs. 
But  the  historian  has  a  succession  of  natural  touches, 
which  the  painter's  more  circumscribed  art  would 
not  permit  ^^im  to  introduce.     First  there  is  that 


THE   PICTURESQUE  IN  THE   SCRIPTURES.  145 

stroke  so  true  to  nature — "he  leaping  up  stood;" 
for  the  moment  the  cripple  felt  strength  coming 
into  his  ankles,  he  was  like  a  captive  whose  chains 
are  unlocked,  and  he  did  just  what  that  captive 
would  do — sprang  up  as  with  irrepressible  ecstacy 
at  finding  himself  free.  Then  we  read  that  on  his 
way  into  the  Temple  he  walked  and  leaped  by 
turns;  it  was  the  same  impulsive  joy,  breaking  out 
into  rapid  motion,  but  anon  curbed  into  a  more 
measured  pace,  when  smitten  as  it  were  with  a 
sense  of  the  unseemliness  of  its  antic  haste.  Then, 
also,  we  are  told,  that  "the  lame  man  who  was 
healed  held  Peter  and  John " — it  was  gratitude 
loth  to  part  with  its  benefactors  till  it  has  poured 
forth  its  thanks  anew.  These  might  be  thought 
minute  particulars  for  an  inspired  pen  to  have 
recorded;  but  they  give  life  and  character  to  the 
picture. 

If  we  now  turn  to  the  more  strictly-historical 
parts  of  Scripture,  we  shall  find  in  them  also  a 
marvelous  picturesqueness.  Nor  is  this  the  result 
of  elaborate  description,  for  the  style  is  uniformly 
simple,  while  for  the  most  part  the  narrative  is 
brief  and  condensed.  In  this  respect  there  is  a 
vast  contrast  between  the  sacred  and  the  more  pop- 
ular of  our  profane  historians;  for  we  do  not  find 
on  their  pages  any  thing  approaching  the  gorgeous 
elaboration  of  a  Gibbon,  or  the  sparkling  antitheses 

of  a  Macaulay,  or  the  quaint  minuteness  of  a  Frois- 

13 


146       LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OP   THE   BIBLE. 

sart.  Yet  as  the  hand  of  a  true  artist  may  be 
seen  in  an  etching,  as  well  as  in  a  highly-finished 
engraving,  so  in  the  historic  sketches  in  the  Scrip- 
tures— for  they  are  seldom  more  than  sketches — we 
find,  notwithstanding  the  brief  narrative  and  the 
simple  style,  a  wonderful  picturesqueness. 

There  are  two  artifices  by  which  a  historian,  even 
when  his  descriptions  are  meager,  can  greatly  en- 
liven his  narrative.  The  one  is,  when  sensible  that 
the  eye  is  the  best  avenue  to  the  heart,  he  repre- 
sents every  thing  as  passing  in  our  sight — when 
from  readers  we  are  transformed,  as  it  were,  into 
spectators.  By  this  contrivance  a  writer  of  genius 
can  impart  even  to  a  brief  narrative  a  wonderful 
picturesqueness,  when  each  incident  makes  its  im- 
pression not  as  rf  heard  at  second  hand,  but  when 
seen  by  an  eye-witness.  The  other  artifice  which 
exceedingly  helps  to  enliven  a  narrative  is  to  throw 
it  as  much  as  possible  into  the  dramatic  form,  when 
the  writer  conceals  himself  and  presents  his  per- 
sonages to  tell  their  own  story. 

Of  this  latter  expedient  the  sacred  historians  have 
made  abundant  use.  It  is  not  merely  a  historic 
panorama  they  hold  up  to  our  view;  but  there  is  a 
living  pageant — the  actors  in  the  scene,  the  dram- 
atis personce,  are  there;  to  whom  we  listen  while, 
as  interlocutors  in  a  dialogue,  they  relate  their  ad- 
ventures in  our  hearing.  And  thus  it  happens  that 
the  oldest  history  in  the  world  has  a  freshness  which 
many  a  modern  history  fails  to  possess. 


THE   PICTURESQUE   IN   THE   SCRIPTURES.  147 

With  regard  to  the  former  expedient — namely,  the 
representation  of  past  and  future  events  in  the  pres- 
ent tense,  by  which  means  whatever  is  described  or 
expressed  is  in  a  manner  brought  immediately  be- 
fore our  eyes — the  sacred  writers  were  debarred 
from  using  it  by  a  somewhat  strange  peculiarity  in 
the  Hebrew  language.  For  the  Hebrew  verbs  have 
no  form  for  expressing  the  indefinite  of  the  present 
tense,  or  an  action  which  is  now  performing;  this 
being  usually  effected  by  a  participle  only,  or  by  a 
verb  substantive  understood.  It  was  probably  this 
defect  in  their  language  which  led  the  sacred  writ- 
ers when  expressing  future  events  not  unfrequently 
to  make  use  of  the  past  tense;  and  when  expressing 
past  events,  the  future  tense.  From  this  arose  a 
much  more  frequent  change  or  variation  of  the  tenses 
in  the  same  continuous  narrative  than  occurs  in  or- 
dinary writers;  and  the  effect  of  this  is  often  like 
that  of  shifting  lights  upon  a  picture  or  landscape. 

Of  the  first  of  these  forms  of  construction — name- 
ly, the  expressing  of  the  future  by  the  past  tense — 
we  have  a  striking  example  in  Isaiah's  prediction  of 
the  inroad  of  Sennacherib.  Though  the  event  was 
still  future,  with  great  exactness  and  perspicuity  the 
prophet  has  traced  the  route  of  the  invader  toward 
Jerusalem,  and  the  different  stages  of  the  army,  inso- 
much that  the  prediction  has  all  the  lively  verisimili- 
tude of  a  historical  narration: 

"  He  is  come  to  Aiath ;  he  hath  passed  to  Migron : 
At  Michmas  he  will  deposit  his  baggage. 


148     LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

They  have  passed  the  Strait;  Geba  is  their  lodging  for  the  night; 
Ramah  is  frightened  ;  Gibeah  of  Saul  fleeth. 
Cry  aloud  with  thy  voice,  0  daughter  of  Gallim ; 
Hearken  unto  her,  0  Laish ;  answer  her,  0  Anathoth. 
Madmena  is  gone  away  ;  the  inhabitants  of  Gebim  flee  amain. 
Yet  this  day  shall  he  abide  in  Nob ; 

He  shall  shake  his  hand  against  the  mount  of  the  daughter  of 
Sion."  Is.  X,  28-32. 

After  the  same  style  is  Joel's  prediction  of  the 
plague  of  locusts : 

"  For  a  nation  hath  gone  up  on  my  land, 
Who  are  strong  and  without  number; 
They  have  destroyed  my  vine,  and  have  made  my  fig-tree  a  broken 

branch. 
They  have  made  it  quite  bare,  and  cast  it  away;    the  branches 

thereof  are  made  white. 
The  field  is  laid  waste ;  the  ground,  the  ground  mourneth." 

Joel  i,  6,  7,  10. 

Both  these  are  examples  of  what  the  grammarians 
call  vision,  in  which  animated  narrative,  for  the 
sake  of  picturesque  eflPect,  is  not  unfrequently  ex- 
pressed. Those  future  actions  and  events  an  En- 
glish writer,  according  to  the  idiom  of  the  language, 
might  have  expressed  in  the  present  tense;  the  He- 
brew writers  do  in  eiffect  the  same  thing,  when,  in 
accordance  with  the  idiom  of  the  Hebrew  verb,  they 
employ  the  past  tense. 

In  the  other  form  of  construction — namely,  the 
expressing  of  past  events  by  the  future  tense — the 
sacred  writers  impart  a  variety  to  their  narrative 
style,  which  is  altogether  peculiar.  "We  have  an  ex- 
ample of  this  in  the  Song  of  Moses,  where,  after 
mentioning  the  Divine   dispensation   by  which   the 


THE   PICTURESQUE   IN  THE   SCRIPTURES.  149 

Israelites  were  distinguished  as  the  chosen  people  of 
God,  he  proceeds  to  set  forth  with  what  love  and 
tenderness  the  Almighty  had  cherished  them  from 
the  time  when  he  brought  them  from  Egypt;  how  he 
had  led  them  by  the  hand  through  the  wilderness, 
and,  as  it  were,  carried  them  in  his  bosom.  These 
were  past  events,  and  accordingly  the  portion  of  the 
song  which  records  them,  in  our  English  version, 
has  been  rendered  in  the  past  tense;  but  in  the 
Hebrew  they  are  expressed  in  the  future  tense : 

"  He  will  find  him  in  a  desert  land, 
In  a  vast  and  howling  wilderness  : 
He  will  lead  him  about ;  he  will  instruct  him  ; 
He  will  keep  him  as  the  pupil  of  his  eye." 

Deut.  xxxii,  10. 

The  observation  of  Bishop  Lowth  on  this  passage 
appears  to  me  to  be  the  true  explanation  of  the  pe- 
culiar construction :  "You  will  readily  judge  whether 
this  passage  can  admit  of  any  other  explication  than 
that  of  Moses  supposing  himself  present  at  the  time 
when  the  Almighty  selected  the  people  of  Israel  for 
himself,  and  thence,  as  from  an  eminence,  contem- 
plating the  consequences  of  that  dispensation."  By 
the  power  of  sympathy,  the  reader  is,  in  a  like 
manner,  made  to  suppose  himself  carried  back,  to 
become,  along  with  the  writer,  an  eye-witness  of 
the  scenes  described;  and  thus  the  picturesque  ef- 
fect is  amazingly  hightened. 

This  matter  of  the  Hebrew  tenses — the  substitu- 
tion of  the  past  for  the  future,  of  the  future  for  the 


150      LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

past,  and  the  rapid  transition  from  the  one  to  the 
other,  has  caused  no  small  perplexity  to  the  gram- 
marians and  the  commentators.  But  one  thing  is 
very  manifest;  namely,  that  greater  picturesque- 
ness  is  imparted  to  the  narrative;  for,  as  I  have 
already  remarked,  the  effect  of  the  sudden  changes 
of  the  tenses  may  be  compared  to  that  of  shifting 
lights  upon  a  landscape  or  a  painting. 

But  if  we  would  see  to  full  advantage  the  pic- 
turesque in  the  Scriptures,  we  must  turn  to  their 
physical  delineations  of  nature.  In  this  department 
they  incomparably  surpass  all  the  other  writings  of 
antiquity.  The  features  of  the  country  in  which  he 
lives  exert  a  strong  influence  on  the  mind  of  a 
writer,  and  unless  he  is  destitute  of  the  graphic  art, 
if  its  scenery  is  strongly  marked,  he  can  scarcely 
fail  to  be  picturesque  when  describing  it.  Now  the 
sacred  writers  dwelt  in  a  region  which  was  pecu- 
liarly favorable  to  topographical  delineations;  for 
theirs  was  a  land  of  the  mountain  and  the  flood — 
of  hills  and  valleys — of  brooks  and  streams — of  spots 
of  exuberant  vegetation  alternating  with  iron-ribbed 
rocks  and  arid  desert — a  land  which,  as  it  has  been 
justly  remarked,  ''united  the  phenomena  of  Sum- 
mer and  Winter,  the  pasturage  of  the  North  with 
the  palms  of  the  South;  so  that,  in  a  few  hours,  an 
Israelite  might  pass  from  the  soft  luxuriance  of  a 
sunny  vale  to  the  rocks  and  groves  of  Antilibanus, 
irom  a  garden  like  the  bowers  of  the  first  pair  in 


THE   PICTURESQUE   IN   THE   SCRIPTURES.  151 

Eden,  to  tlie  savage  sterility  of  tlie  deserts  of  En- 
gedi."  Yet,  neither  this  striking  natural  scenery, 
nor  the  skyey  influences  of  an  Eastern  climate  would 
have  imparted  their  rare  picturesqueness  to  the  sa- 
cred writers  unless  they  had  possessed  that  poetic 
susceptibility  which  has  showed  itself  in  their  in- 
tense sympathy  with  nature.  The  poets  and  ora- 
tors of  ancient  Greece  lived  in  a  land  which,  for  the 
transparency  of  its  skies  and  the  grandeur  of  its 
scenery,  was  second  only  to  Palestine ;  yet,  compared 
with  the  delineations  of  nature  which  we  meet  with 
in  the  Hebrew  poets,  how  cold  and  unimpassioned 
are  those  which  we  find  in  the  Grecian!  "If  we 
bear  in  mind,"  says  Schiller,  "  the  beautiful  scenery 
by  which  the  Greeks  were  surrounded,  and  remem- 
ber the  opportunities  possessed  by  a  people  living  in 
so  genial  a  climate  of  entering  into  the  free  enjoy- 
ment of  the  contemplation  of  nature,  and  observe 
how  conformable  were  their  mode  of  thoiio-ht,  the 
bent  of  their  imagination,  and  the  habits  of  their 
lives  to  the  simplicity  of  nature,  which  was  so  faith- 
fully reflected  in  their  poetic  works,  we  can  not  fail 
to  remark  with  surprise  how  few  traces  are  to  be 
met  among  them  of  the  sentimental  interest  with 
which  we,  in  modern  times,  attach  ourselves  to  the 
individual  characteristics  of  natural  scenery.  The 
Greek  poet  is  certainly,  in  the  highest  degree,  cor- 
rect, faithful,  and  circumstantial  in  his  descriptions 
of  nature;  but  his  heart  has  no  more  share  in  his 
words  than   if   he   were  treating   of  a  garment,  a 


152       LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE   BIBLE. 

shield,  or  suit  of  armor.  Nature  seems  to  interest 
his  understanding  more  than  his  moral  perceptions." 
The  same  thing,  and  more  strongly,  might  be  said 
of  the  Roman  poets.  But  when  we  turn  to  the  He- 
brew poets,  we  find  their  landscape-pictures  suffused 
with  life,  warmth,  and  animation.  Their  own  minds 
pervaded  by  a  profound  feeling  of  nature,  they  have 
breathed  a  sympathetic  glow  into  all  their  descrip- 
tions of  it.  They  cling  to  its  charms  with  the  fervor 
and  the  plaintive  passion  of  the  poet  of  modern  times. 
They  exhibit,  in  a  very  rare  degree,  that  form  of 
poetic  susceptibility  which  Foster  has  felicitously 
called  jphysiopathy — "the  faculty  of  pervading  all 
nature  with  one's  own  being,  so  as  to  have  a  per- 
ception, a  life,  an  agency  in  all  things."  For  even 
into  their  cosmical  delineations  the  sacred  writers 
have  transfused  their  own  life,  as  if  they  inherited 
the  distant  stars,  and  felt  a  personal  interest  in  each 
shining  sphere.  Yet  we  never  find  pictorial  exact- 
ness sacrificed  to  poetic  emotion,  for  their  physical 
descriptions  are  uniformly  characterized  by  their 
truthfulness  to  nature.  On  this  point  I  prefer  giv- 
ing the  words  of  Humboldt:  ''As  descriptions  of 
nature,  the  writings  of  the  Old  Testament  are  a 
faithful  reflection  of  the  character  of  the  country  in 
which  they  were  composed,  of  the  alternations  of 
barrenness  and  fruitfulness,  and  of  the  Alpine  for- 
ests by  which  Palestine  was  characterized.  They 
describe,  in  their  regular  succession,  the  relations 
of  the  climate,  the  manners  of  this  people  of  herds- 


THE   PICTURESQUE  IN  THE   SCRIPTURES.  153 

men,  and  their  hereditary  aversion  to  agricultural 
pursuits.  The  epic  or  historical  parts  are  marked 
by  a  graceful  simplicity,  almost  more  unadorned 
than  those  of  Herodotus,  and  most  true  to  nature; 
a  point  on  which  the  unanimous  testimony  of 
modern  travelers  may  be  received  as  conclusive, 
owing  to  the  inconsiderable  changes  effected,  in  the 
course  of  ages,  in  the  manners  and  habits  of  a 
nomadic  people." 

The  Hebrew  Psalmist,  who  is  so  preeminently 
the  poet  of  devotion,  has  proved  himself  to  be  no 
less  the  poet  of  nature.  Many  of  his  descriptions, 
both  of  the  celestial  phenomena  and  of  terrestrial 
scenery,  are  amazingly  picturesque,  and  over  many 
of  these  it  sheds  a  flood  of  new  significance,  when 
the  reader  understands  the  mechanism  of  the  Psalms 
in  which  they  occur.  In  the  29th  Psalm,  for  exam- 
ple, we  have  a  description  of  a  thunder-storm,  which 
is  exceedingly  enhanced  when  one  attends  to  the 
geographical  structure  of  this  majestic  ode.  We  are 
to  conceive  the  Psalmist  standing  with  the  awe- 
struck multitude  in  the  Temple  porch,  watching  the 
march  of  the  thunder-storm  as  it  advances  from  the 
Mediterranean,  or  "great  sea,"  and  at  last  bursts 
in  a  water-flood  around  themselves. 

There  is  sometimes  a  singularly-pleasing  euphony 
in  what  we  might  call  the  merely- topographical  pas- 
sages of  the  Old  Testament,  arising  from  a  cadence 
and  resonance  in  the  sound  of  the  names.  ''Any 
one,"  says  Dr.  Brown,  ''who  has  a  tolerable  ear  and 


154      LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

any  sensibility,  must  remember  the  sensation  of  de- 
light in  the  mere  sound — like  the  color  of  a  butter- 
fly's wings,  or  the  shapeless  glories  of  evening 
clouds,  to  the  eye — in  reading  aloud  such  passages 
as  these:  'Heshbon  shall  cry,  and  Elealeh;  their 
voice  shall  be  heard  to  Jahaz;  for  by  the  way  of 
Luhith  with  weeping  shall  they  go  it  up ;  for  in  the 
way  of  Horonaim  they  shall  raise  a  cry.  God  came 
from  Teman,  the  Holy  One  from  Mount  Paran.  Is 
not  Calno  as  Carchemish  ?  is  not  Hamath  as  Arpad  ? 
is  not  Samaria  as  Damascus  ?  He  is  gone  to  Aiath ; 
he  is  passed  to  Migron;  at  Michmash  he  hath  laid 
up  his  chariots;  Kamath  is  afraid;  Gibeah  of  Saul 
is  fled;  lift  up  thy  voice,  0  daughter  of  Gallim; 
cause  it  to  be  heard  unto  Laish;  0  poor  Anathoth. 
Madmenah  is  removed;  the  inhabitants  of  Gebim 
gather  themselves  to  flee.  The  fields  of  Heshbon 
languish;  the  vine  of  Sibmah;  I  will  water  thee 
with  my  tears,  0  Heshbon  and  Elealeh.'  Any  one 
may  prove  to  himself  that  much  of  the  effect  and 
beauty  of  these  passages  depends  on  these  names; 
put  others  in  their  room  and  try  them." 

We  have  discovered  two  of  the  causes  which  go 
to  account  for  the  pleasing  picturcsqueness  of  the 
Bible  descriptions  of  the  physical  universe;  namely, 
their  truthfulness  to  nature  and  the  strong  sympa- 
thy which  the  writers  felt  with  nature.  The  first 
gives  to  them  a  pictorial  exactness,  which  makes 
them  j)leasing  as  faithful  reflections  of  objective 
nature;    while  the  second,  by  interfusing  the  sub- 


THE   PICTURESQUE   IN   THE    SCRIPTURES.  155 

jective  life  of  the  writer,  imparts  a  poetic  warmth 
to  his  pictures  which  renders  them  something 
higher  than  mere  copies.  And  the  result  of  the 
two  combined  is  what  the  reader  will  not  find, 
at  least  in  any  other  ancient  writing,  that  union  of 
reality  with  idealism,  which  alone  can  enable  a 
writer  truthfully  to  delineate  the  face  of  Nature — 
that  is,  while  presenting  her  great  permanent  feat- 
ures, also  to  catch  that  ethereal,  ever-shifting  ex- 
pression which  gives  individuality  or  its  idiosyncrasy, 
so  to  speak,  to  each  several  piece  of  the  landscape. 

There  is  yet  another  cause  which  has  largely  con- 
tributed to  the  picturesqueness  of  the  Biblical  deline- 
ations of  nature;  namely,  the  true  perception  which 
the  writers  had  of  what  nature  really  is.  The  an- 
cient polytheist  managed  to  throw  a  certain  poetic 
coloring  over  his  landscape  which  he  borrowed  from 
the  fictions  of  his  mythology.  Dryads  peopled 
the  woodlands;  Oreads  flitted  over  the  mountains; 
Naiads  gave  mirth  to  the  waters  and  music  to  the 
streams.  But  without  the  aid  of  these  fabulous 
divinities  the  sacred  writers  have  bathed  their  land- 
scapes in  still  warmer  hues.  The  modern  pantheist 
also  is  able  to  infuse  into  his  pictures  of  nature  an 
amazing  warmth  and  richness.  But  this  he  accom- 
plishes not  by  simply  describing  the  universe,  for 
he  must  first  deify  it,  and  thus,  confounding  God 
with  nature  or  nature  with  God,  and  so  interfusing 
each  into  the  other  as  one  substance,  it  is  a  God- 
world  of  his  own  creation,  which  he  throws  in  so 


156       LrrERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

gleaming  images  across  men's  eyes  to  dazzle  and 
astound.  But  the  Hebrew  writers,  without  deify- 
ing nature,  have  described  it  as  glowingly  and 
clothed  it  in  as  great  a  sublimity  as  the  panthe- 
ist. "With  them  creation  is  distinct  from  the  Cre- 
ator, and  nature  not  consubstantial  with  God; 
yet  bright  to  their  eyes  with  his  penetrating,  all- 
pervasive  glory,  they  have  exhibited  the  universe 
as  a  picturesque  adumbration  in  visible  symbols 
of  his  invisible  Godhead.  Though  not  confound- 
ing the  Maker  with  the  things  which  he  has  made, 
they  do  not  on  this  account  shut  cut  the  Cre- 
ator from  his  works,  or  represent  him  as  a  sol- 
itary potentate  seated  on  an  inaccessible  throne 
amid  the  eternal  silences,  and  casting  only  impas- 
sive glances  on  the  empire  he  had  reared.  On  the 
contrary,  they  represent  him  as  every-where  pres- 
ent, vivifying  by  his  ubiquitous  activity  even  the 
solitudes  of  remotest  space — to  us  remote  but  to  him 
near.  And  how  animated  is  all  nature  when  thus 
viewed,  as  luminous  with  his  light,  as  vocal  with 
his  voice,  as  moved  by  his  motive  energy,  and  as 
sustained  by  his  providence!  Every  sunbeam  and 
star-ray,  though  not  himself,  is  his  shekinah.  His 
voice  rolls  in  the  thunder  and  whispers  in  the 
breath  of  winds.  The  lightning  is  the  flash  of  his 
ire.  The  rain-drops  and  the  dew  are  sprinkled  from 
out  his  bounteous  hand.  He  rides  on  the  chariot- 
clouds,  and  plants  his  footsteps  on  the  sea.  His 
children  on  the  earth  approach  his  footstool;  while 


THE  PICTURESQUE  IN  THE   SCRIPTURES.  157 

a  sparrow  can  not  fall  from  tlie  housetop,  nor  a 
sere  leaf  in  Autumn  drop  from  its  withering  bough, 
without  his  notice. 

Nor  is  it  only  in  their  delineations  of  physical 
nature  that  the  Scriptures  exhibit  a  picturesqueness. 
Even  abstract  truth,  taught  as  they  teach  it,  by  act- 
ual cases,  rather  than  in  naked  formulae,  is  vivified 
into  pictorial  reality;  while  in  the  views  which  the 
sacred  writers  give  of  Providence,  there  is  a  singu- 
larly-picturesque vividness.  There  are  not  wanting 
generalized  statements,  such  as  befit  the  lips  of  di- 
vine philosophy,  when  its  oracle  has  to  proclaim  a 
theme  so  large.  Aphorisms  abound  which  might  be 
inscribed  on  the  choicest  tablets  to  be  set  up  in  the 
highest  niches  of  Wisdom's  temple.  Yet,  along  with 
these,  we  have  picturesque  touches,  which  to  the 
eye  of  the  simple  ones  exhibit  a  striking  picture  of 
a  particular  Providence.  We  are  permitted  almost 
to  see  with  our  bodily  eyes  the  hand  of  the  great 
Food- Giver  opened  to  feed  the  fowls  of  the  air  and 
the  young  lions  in  the  forest.  We  can  all  but  per- 
ceive the  eye  of  the  Universal  Protector,"  as  it 
watches  the  fledgling  sparrow,  which  is  trying  its 
young  wings  in  its  first  flight.  As  we  gaze  on  the 
lilies  of  the  field,  the  words  of  the  Savior  do  all  but 
make  visible  to  us  the  Divine  pencil,  which,  dipped 
in  dew-drops  and  sunshine,  paints  them  so  exquis- 
itely beautiful.  Also  in  its  higher  sphere  the  pro- 
cesses of  Providence  are  set  forth  in  a  way  which ' 
has   all   the  eff'ect  of  a  magnificent   picture.     The 


158      LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OP  THE   BIBLE. 

very  elements,  as  if  conscious  of  their  Sovereign's 
will,  are  represented  as  waiting  liis  summons  to  co- 
operate with  him  in  his  great  works.  The  fitful 
waves,  and  the  still  more  fitful  winds;  the  heaving 
earthquake;  the  blazing  meteor;  the  electric  fire,  as 
it  flashes  from  the  riven  cloud;  and  even  the  very- 
dreams,  which  shape  their  wild  visions  of  the  night, 
all  are  made  to  pass  in  the  grand  pageant  which 
moves  in  Jehovah's  train  when  he  is  accomplishing 
redemption  work.  Verily,  one  may  scarcely  call 
any  thing  common  when  thus  the  passing  winds  are 
represented  as  if  uttering  the  name  of  Jesus;  and 
the  lightning's  flash  as  if  writing  it  in  lines  of  fire 
on  the  sky;  .and  the  waves  of  ocean  as  if  rolling  it 
from  pole  to  pole.  Every  sound,  whether  it  be  the 
zephyr's  whisper  or  the  tempest's  roar;  and  every 
scene,  whether  in  the  smiling  valley  or  on  the 
cloud-covered  mountain's  brow;  and  every  event, 
from  the  dropping  of  a  leaf  to  the  downfall  of  a 
kingdom,  is  sacred  and  solemn,  when  we  think  that 
by  means  of  it  the  Kedeemer  may  be  carrying  out 
his  glorious  work.  And,  as  the  pious  reader  kin- 
dles over  these  animating  views  of  Providence,  he 
can  not  repress  the  exclamation :  "  My  Father,  which 
art  in  heaven,  do  all  thy  works  praise  thee?  do  the 
stars  in ,  the  firmament  choir  for  thee  their  silent 
hymns?  and  for  thee  the  thunder  utter  its  voice? 
and  for  thee  the  lightning  strike  its  fiery  bolts?  and 
for  thee  the  winds  blow,  and  the  waters  roll  ?  is  it 
even  bo,  0  Father  ?  and  shall  not  I,  the  creature  of 


THE   PICTURESQUE  IN  THE   SCRIPTURES.  159 

thy  bounty,  the  nursling  of  thy  care,  thy  very  child, 
be  one  among  these  ministers  of  thy  pleasure,  and 
one  among  these  minstrels  of  thy  praise?" 

It  may  reasonably  be  asked  why  so  large  a  por- 
tion of  the  Bible,  which  is  professedly  a  book  for 
all  nations,  has  been  taken  up  with  topographical 
descriptions  of  Palestine?  One  purpose  of  this,  we 
doubt  not,  was  to  render  the  Bible  a  picturesque 
and  thus  a  pleasing  volume  to  the  lovers  of  natural 
scenery.  But  was  this  the  sole  purpose,  or  is  there 
not  a  divine  philosophy  here?  We  apprehend  there 
is.  For  we  persuade  ourselves  that  we  can  discover 
in  the  geographical  picturesqueness  of  the  Bible  no 
small  proof  of  its  Divine  origin.  In  the  first  place, 
its  Author  has  thus  shown  himself  to  be  acquainted 
with  human  nature  in  one  of  its  universal  instincts 
or  sentiments.  By  the  law  of  local  associations,  we 
can  not  help  feeling  a  deep  interest  and  curiosity  to 
know  about  the  land  which  was  the  theater  of  our 
redemption.  We  feel  a  desire  to  have  set  before  us 
a  vivid  picture  of  its  physical  aspects — its  streams, 
its  mountains,  its  valleys,  its  cities;  to  have  photo- 
graphed, so  to  speak,  to  our  mind's  eye  the  exact 
spots  in  the  wilderness  where  its  patriarchs  pitched 
their  tents;  the  precise  haunts  of  its  ancient  seers; 
the  Temple  where  its  congregations  worshiped;  and, 
above  all,  "  the  holy  places  "  which  were  frequented 
by  the  Savior.  The  Author  of  the  Bible,  knowing 
this  law  in  our  nature,  has  made  provision  for  it 


160      LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS  OF    THE   BIBLE. 

Dy  the  Scriptures  being  so  eminently  topographical. 
For  more  than  by  Grecian  poets  the  isles  of  the 
-^gean,  by  the  Hebrew  bards  has  Palestine,  in  its 
geographical  features  and  remarkable  localities,  be- 
come a  land  familiar  to  the  stranger. 

But,  further,  may  we  not  trace  a  beautiful  har- 
mony between  the  scenic  picturesqueness  of  the 
Bible  and  its  prophetic  character?  For,  when  the 
period  of  the  expatriation  shall  have  been  completed, 
and  the  children  of  the  exiles  are  restored  to  their 
fatherland,  is  the  country  of  their  sires  to  be  to 
them  as  a  strange  country?  When  they  are  to  be 
restored  to  their  ancestral  home  shall  it  be  to  them 
as  an  alien  land?  Must  the  returned  exiles  sit  down 
to  weep,  saying,  We  know  not  this  place?  Not  so; 
for,  though  they  have  never  visited  it,  with  the 
Bible  in  their  hands  as  their  guide-book,  they  will 
recognize  each  sacred  locality,  and  be  able  to  trace 
the  footsteps  of  their  ancient  sires.  These  local 
recognitions,  linking  at  once  into  the  chain  of  their 
historic  memories,  will  make  the  returned  exiles 
feel  at  home;  with  joy  they  will  say.  This  is  the 
land  of  our  fathers. 


HEBREW  POETRY.  161 


CHAPTER   IX. 

HEBREW  POETRY. 

Among  the  questiones  vexatce  in  literature,  few 
have  been  more  keenly  debated  than,  what  is  poetry? 
and  what  the  function  of  the  poet?  Much  of  this 
disputation  could  have  been  avoided  had  our  critics, 
instead  of  aiming  at  a  single  generalization,  been 
content  to  specify  particulars;  since  that  which  in 
its  own  nature  is  composite  will  not  be  described 
except  by  a  composite  definition;  nor  will  any  re- 
finement of  criticism  succeed  in  reducing  to  a  sin- 
gle conception  that  which  combines  several.  Thus, 
when  Aristotle  defines  poetry  to  be  the  mimetic  or 
imitative  art,  he  gives  a  definition  which  is  neither 
distinctive  nor  exhaustive.  It  is  not  distinctive, 
seeing  that  painting  and  sculpture  are  as  truly  imi- 
tative arts  as  is  poetry;  nor  is  it  exhaustive,  since 
while  imitation  is  one  it  is  not  the  only  property  of 
poetry.  So  likewise  those  critics  are  at  fault  who 
define  the  province  of  poetry  to  be  fiction;  for 
while  imagination  and  even  pure  fancy  have  much 
to  do  with  the  conceptions  of  the  poet,  many  subjects 
proper  to  his  art  and  which  he  is  accustomed  to 
discourse,   so  far   from   being  fictitious,   are  of   all 

realities  the  most  real.     Such  are  the  works  of  God, 

14 


162       LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

the  sentiments  of  piety,  and  the  passions  of  the 
human  heart.  Then  with  regard  to  the  function  of 
the  poet;  high  authorities  have  pronounced  it  to  be 
to  please,  while  that  of  the  historian  and  philoso- 
pher is  to  instruct.  Now,  unquestionably,  poetry 
affords  pleasure,  both  by  the  richer  hues  in  which 
it  dips  its  pen,  by  its  peculiar  phraseology,  its  ryth- 
mical construction,  and  its  abundant  figures;  but 
while  the  vehicle  in  which  the  poet  conveys  his 
thoughts  is  peculiarly  fitted  to  please,  his  aim,  fully 
as  much  as  that  of  the  philosopher  and  historian, 
may  be,  and  often  is,  to  instruct  and  reform  man- 
kind. 

What  then  is  poetry?  or,  as  we  would  prefer  to 
put  it — for  who  may  define  the  ethereal  art  itself? — 
what  are  the  attributes  of  the  true  poet?  There 
is  first  that  peculiar  quickness  of  perception  which 
we  call  the  poetic  eye,  which  ''in  a  fine  frenzy 
rolling"  can  detect  not  merely  the  ostensible,  but 
also  the  occult  forms  and  fashions  of  the  beautiful 
and  the  sublime;  then  there  is  the  poetic  suscep- 
tiveness,  or  that  undefinable  excitability,  by  which 
objects,  whether  real  or  only  present  to  the  fancy, 
impress  themselves  or  their  images  more  vividly, 
more  thrillingly,  and  more  endurably,  than  the  less 
delicate  tissues  of  unpoetic  minds  will  receive,  at 
least  at  first  sight  and  on  a  single  glance;  then 
there  is  the  nervous  system,  both  physical  and 
mental,  so  finely  threaded  as  to  move  in  sympathy 
with  every  heart-throb  of   every  living  thing,  and 


HEBREW   POETRY.  163 

to  vibrate  at  every  tender  touch  and  every  breath- 
ing sound  of  sadness  or  of  joy,  come  whence  these 
may,  from  far  or  near,  from  great  things  or  small; 
there  is  also  in  a  high  state  of  activity  the  illustra- 
tive faculty,  the  true  poet,  having  a  keen  insight 
into  those  analogies,  which  by  links  often  too  fine 
to  be  visible  to  ordinary  observers,  unite  the  vari- 
ous departments  of  nature,  and  so  harmonize  the 
processes  in  the  material  with  those  in  the  spiritual 
world,  that  to  his  eye  not  only  is  the  invisible  ad- 
umbrated or  symbolized  in  the  visible,  but  all  nature 
appears  one  great  parable;  there  is  also  in  its  high- 
est degree  of  development  the  faculty  of  recombin- 
ing  the  materials  of  perception,  of  memory,  and 
meditative  thought,  till  what  rises  to  view  is  nothing 
short  of  a  new  creation ;  and  finally  there  is  a  com- 
mand of  poetic  language,  or  of  words  which  have 
kindled  with  the  poet's  fervors,  and  which  gleam 
with  his  fancies,  and  which  he  pours  forth  in  streams 
of  song,  musical  because  his  thoughts  themselves 
are  music. 

Such  we  take  to  be  the  poetic  talent;  and  the 
function  of  the  true  poet  is  to  consecrate  this  talent 
to  the  elucidation  and  enforcement  of  truth,  in  those 
impressive  and  pleasing  forms  in  which  his  lofty  art 
enables  him  to  clothe  it. 

Now,  in  the  bards  of  the  Bible,  we  find  the  poetic 
talent  in  the  very  highest  degree;  and  in  the  poetry 
of  the  Bible  we  have  the  consecration  of  that  talent 
to  the  noblest  of  all  uses. 


164      LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS  OP  THE  BIBLE. 

The  first  point  which  would  naturally  fall  to  be 
considered,  is  the  structure  or  prosodial  mechanism 
of  Hebrew  poetry.  But  on  this  subject  I  do  not 
intend  to  dwell  at  length,  and  for  two  reasons. 
First,  because,  owing  to  the  prosody — even  the  pro- 
nunciation of  the  Hebrew  language  being  in  a  great 
measure  lost — it  is  little  else  than  a  conjectural 
solution  of  the  question  which  can  now  be  reached; 
and,  secondly,  the  critics  have  nevertheless  so  keenly 
maintained  opposite  opinions,  that  more  space  than 
our  limits  will  allow  would  be  required  to  give  even 
a  summary  of  the  controversy. 

Among  the  Greeks  and  the  Eomans  the  regular 
measure  of  poems  was  formed  according  to  a  law  of 
syllabic  quantity,  or  the  time  of  pronouncing  every 
line.  Thus  a  hexameter  verse,  whatever  the  num- 
ber of  the  syllables,  was  formed  of  six  feet  or 
measures,  each  containing  two  notes;  and  the  words 
were  so  arranged  that  the  same  quantity  of  time 
should  be  regularly  observed.  This  metrical  con- 
struction, of  course,  required  that  the  long  or  short 
syllables  in  every  word  in  the  language  should  be 
fixed;  and  the  standard  of  notation  was,  that  two 
short  syllables  were  equivalent  in  time  to  one  long 
syllable.  But  among  the  modern  nations  of  Europe 
the  meters  are  formed  according  to  a  law  of  accent- 
uation— by  accent  being  understood  a  particular 
stress  or  force  of  voice  upon  certain  syllables  of 
words,  which  distinguish  them  from  the  others. 
Thus  an  English  hexameter  consists  of  twelve  syl- 


HEBREW  POETEY.  165 

lables,  half  of  which  are  accented  and  the  other 
unaccented.  Another  diJBference  between  the  ancient 
and  the  modern  poetry  of  Europe  is,  that  in  the 
latter — except  in  blank  verse — the  lines  are  rhymed, 
whereas  in  the  former  rhyme  was  unknown.  Now, 
with  respect  to  Hebrew  poetry,  it  has  been  debated 
by  the  grammarians  whether  its  versification  fol- 
lowed the  law  of  quantity,  as  among  the  ancients, 
or  the  law  of  accent,  as  among  the  moderns;  or 
whether  it  had  a  law  of  rhythm  differing  from  both 
of  these,  peculiar  to  itself. 

Were  the  matter  to  be  determined  by  the  weight 
of  names  we  might  cite  the  highest  authorities  in 
support  of  the  opinion  that  Hebrew  versification 
had  its  fixed  measures  of  time  and  quantity,  as 
among  the  Greeks  and  Bomans.  Josephus,  in  the 
second  book  of  his  antiquities,  expressly  states  that 
the  Song  of  Moses,  which  celebrates  the  passage 
through  the  Bed  Sea,  was  composed  in  hexameters. 
In  his  fourth  book  of  Antiquities  he  makes  a  similar 
statement  concerning  the  sacred  song  in  the  32d 
chapter  of  Deuteronomy;  and  in  the  seventh  of  the 
same  work  he  expressly  says:  "And  now  David, 
being  freed  from  wars  and  dangers,  composed  songs 
and  hymns  to  God  of  several  sorts  of  meter;  some 
of  those  which  he  made  were  trimeters,  and  some 
were  pentameters."  Philo  Judseus  also  states  that 
Hebrew  poetry  had  meters.  Such  also  is  the  state- 
ment of  Origen,  Eusebius,  Jerome,  and  Isidore.  Sir 
William  Jones,  in  a  curious  dissertation  on  Asiatic 


166      LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS    OF   THE   BIBLE. 

meters,  has  shown  that  the  lines  of  Arabic  verses 
may  be  scanned,  like  those  of  the  Greek.  He  then 
proceeds  to  show  the  probability  that  similar  meas- 
ures would  be  adopted  by  the  Hebrews,  whose  lan- 
guage was  a  branch  of  the  same  Semitic  family; 
and  forms  a  theory  of  long  and  short  syllables  for 
Hebrew  words,  similar  to  those  of  the  Arabic.  He 
applies  his  theory,  apparently  with  success,  to  the 
28th  chapter  of  Job,  the  Song  of  Solomon,  some  of 
the  Psalms,  the  Lamentations  of  Jeremiah,  the  Song 
of  Moses,  the  Song  of  Deborah,  and  the  Elegy  of 
David  on  the  deaths  of  Saul  and  Jonathan.  Besides 
the  authority  of  names,  we  might  plead  the  natural 
inclination  to  express  the  sentiments  of  poetry  in 
measure;  an  inclination  which  a  people  so  highly 
poetical,  and  so  much  addicted  to  the  cultivation  of 
poetry  as  were  the  Hebrews,  can  scarcely  be  sup- 
posed not  to  have  indulged.  We  might  further 
plead  that  music  disposes  to  measures  of  different 
kinds.  Now,  it  is  well  known  that  many  of  the 
Hebrew  hymns  were  set  to  music;  and  few  nations 
have  reached  a  higher  excellence  in  the  art  of  min- 
strelsy than  did  the  Hebrews,  especially  from  the 
times  of  David  and  Solomon. 

Still,  what  may  be  true  of  a  few  compositions 
may  not  be  true  of  the  general  compositions  of  a 
people;  and  when  we  consider  how  little  adapted, 
by  its  forms  and  construction,  the  Hebrew  language 
is  for  those  transpositions  which  verses  of  measured 
time  require,  we  can  not  avoid  the  conclusion,  that 


HEBREW   POETRY.  167 

for  Hebrew  poetry  to  have  been  confined  to  such 
modes  of  versification,  would  have  been  felt  by  the 
poets  to  have  been  irksome  and  unnatural.  Besides, 
we  meet  with  many  specimens  of  poetic  composition 
at  a  period  so  early  as  almost  to  preclude  the  sup- 
position that  the  length  or  shortness  of  the  syllables 
in  the  language  could  have  then  been  so  fixed  as  to 
admit  of  syllabic  meters  being  very  general. 

While,  therefore,  it  will  scarcely  deny,  on  the  one 
hand,  that  specimens  of  verbal  versification  are  not 
uncommon  in  Hebrew  poetry ;  yet,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  is  just  a&  obvious  that  this  was  not  the 
proper  or  peculiar  characteristic  of  its  rhythm. 
"What  then  was  this  characteristic? 

To  Bishop  Lowth  we  owe  the  discovery  of  the  true 
nature  of  the  rhythm  in  Hebrew  poetry.  Its  dis- 
tinctive characteristic  he  has  shown  to  consist  in  a 
correspondence  of  the  lines,  not,  as  in  more  modern 
languages,  in  sound,  but  in  sense — in  the  recurrence 
of  a  regular  measure  dependent  not  on  the  quan- 
tity or  length  of  syllables,  but  on  the  agreement 
of  ideas.  This  correspondence  he  has  denominated 
parallelism,  which  he  defines  to  be  ''a  certain 
equality,  resemblance,  or  relationship  between  the 
members  of  each  period;  so  that  in  one  or  more 
lines  or  members  of  the  same  period  things  shall 
answer  to  things,  and  words  to  words,  as  if  fitted  to 
each  other  by  a  kind  of  rule  or  measure."  TMs  new 
tract,  which  Lowth  claims  the  honor  to  have  opened, 
has  been  successfully  pursued  by  subsequent  investi- 


168       LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

gators.  In  our  own  country  by  Bishop  Jebb,  in 
his  "Sacred  Literature,"  and  the  Kev.  T.  Boys,  in 
his  "Tactica  Sacra,"  and  subsequently  in  his  "Key 
to  the  Book  of  Psalms;"  and  in  Germany  by  the 
learned  Hebrew  scholar  Ewald.  The  latter,  in  place 
of  "parallelism,"  adopted  by  Lowth,  prefers  the 
term  "thought-rhythm." 

Not  attempting  any  thing  beyond  a  short  and 
simple  account,  which  will  best  suit  these  pages,  I 
would  state  the  leading  principle  to  be,  that  a  sim- 
ple verse  or  distich  consists,  both  in  regard  to  form 
and  substance,  of  two  corresponding  members;  and 
of  this  parallelismics  viembrorum,  as  it  has  been 
called,  three  kinds  may  be  specified.  First,  there  is 
the  synonT/mous  parallelism  where  the  two  members 
express  the  same  thought  in  such  manner  that  the 
second  is  an  echo  to  the  first,  not  in  sense  merely, 
but  also  in  sound;  for  example: 

"What  is  man  that  thou  art  mindful  of  him, 
And  the  Son  of  man  that  thou  carest  for  him  ?" 

Ps.  viii,  4. 

Sometimes  the  second  member  repeats  only  a  part 
of  the  first : 

*'  Wo©  to  them  that  join  house  to  house, 
That  field  to  field  unite." 

Is.  V,  8. 

And  sometimes  the  second  member  contains  an  ex- 
pansion of  the  first : 

"  Give  to  Jehovah,  ye  sons  of  God, 
Give  to  Jehovah  glory  and  praise." 
Ps.  xxix,  1, 


HEBREW   POETRY.  169 

The  second  kind  is  the  antithetic  parallelism,  in 
which  the  first  member  is  illustrated  by  some  oppo- 
sition of  thought  contained  in  the  second : 

"  The  full  man  treadeth  the  honeycomb  under  foot. 
To  the  hungry  every  bitter  thing  is  sweet." 

Prov.  xxii,  7. 

"  Day  to  day  uttereth  instruction, 
And  night  to  night  sheweth  knowledge." 

Pa.  xix,  2. 

"  They  have  bowed  down  and  fallen, 
But  we  have  risen  and  stand  upright." 

Ps.  XX,  8. 

These  two  forms  of  parallelism  are  dependent 
on  the  two  great  laws  of  the  association  of  ideas, 
resemblance  and  contrast.  The  third,  which  has 
been  called  the  synthetic,  by  some  the  constructive, 
is  founded  simply  upon  a  resemblance  in  the  form 
of  construction  and  progression  of  the  thoughts; 
the  second  member  not  being  a  mere  echo,  or  redu- 
plication of  the  first,  subjoins  something  new  to  it, 
while  the  same  structure  of  the  verse  is  preserved — 
thus : 

"  He  appointeth  the  moon  for  seasons, 
The  sun  knoweth  his  going  down." 

Ps.  civ,  19. 

"  The  law  of  Jehovah  is  perfect,  reviving  the  soul ; 
The  precepts  of  Jehovah  are  pure,  instructing  the  simple." 

Ps.  xix,  7. 

There  is  a  fourth  kind  of  parallelism  which 
Bishop  Jebb  has  styled  the  introverted :  "  There  are 
stanzas  so  constructed  that  whatever  be  the  num- 
ber of  lines,  the  first  line  shall  be  parallel  with  the 

15 


170     LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS    OF   THE   BIBLE. 

last,  the  second  with  the  penultimate,  and  so 
throughout,  in  an  order  which  looks  inward,  or,  to 
borrow  a  military  phrase,  from  flanks  to  center. 
This  may  be  called  the  introverted  parallelism. 

"  The  idols  of  the  heathen  are  silver  and  gold. 
The  work  of  men's  hands  : 
They  have  mouths  but  they  speak  not; 
They  have  eyes  but  they  see  not ; 
They  have  ears  but  they  hear  not  ; 
Neither  is  there  any  breath  in  their  mouths : 
They  who  make  them  are  like  unto  them : 
So  are  all  they  who  put  their  trust  in  them." 

Ps.  cxxxv,  15-18. 

Here  the  first  line  introverts  with  the  eighth — in  the 
one  we  have  the  idols  of  the  heathen,  in  the  other 
those  who  put  their  trust  in  idols.  The  second  line 
introverts  with  the  seventh — in  the  one  is  the  fab- 
rication, in  the  other  the  fabricators.  The  third 
line  introverts  with  the  sixth — in  the  one  there  are 
mouths  without  articulation,  in  the  other  mouths 
without  breath.  The  fourth  line  introverts  with 
the  fifth,  where  the  introverted  parallelism  may  be 
said  to  unite  its  two  halves  in  a  parallelism  of  syn- 
thesis— eyes  without  vision,  ears  without  the  sense 
of  hearing. 

The  simple,  two-membered  rhythm  is  the  more 
common;  but  not  unfrequently  verses  occur  with 
three,  four,  or  yet  more  members,  and  in  these  the 
parallelisms  exhibit  considerable  variety.  In  the 
tristich,  for  example,  the  members  are  sometimes 
all  three  parallel;   sometimes  two  of  the  members 


HEBREW  POETRY.  VJ% 

stand  opposed  to  the  third.  In  the  quartette  we 
find  at  one  time  two  simple  parallels,  at  another 
time  a  kind  of  semi-introverted  parallel,  the  first 
and  third  answering  to  each  other,  also,  the  second 
and  fourth.  By  a  combination  of  the  various  sorts, 
several  being  found  together  in  one  composition, 
great  freedom,  ease,  and  capability  is  given  to  the 
style. 

Before  proceeding  to  enumerate  some  of  the  char- 
acteristics which  prove  the  superior  excellence  of 
Hebrew  poetry,  it  is  right  that  the  reader  be  ap- 
prized of  two  special  disadvantages  under  which, 
owing  to  the  accidents  of  time  and  language,  that 
poetry  labors. 

First,  then,  while  the  melody  and  rhythmical  flow 
of  numbers  is  not  essential  to  poetry;  yet  these 
greatly  help  its  full  efiect.  But  from  such  aids 
Hebrew  poetry  can  now  derive  very  little,  if,  in- 
deed, any  aid  at  all.  "What  may  have  been  its 
prosodial  structure  is,  as  we  have  seen,  a  point 
upon  which  the  learned  are  still  divided.  But 
whether  its  cadence  was  owing  to  the  arrangement 
of  the  syllables  according  to  their  quantity  or  their 
accent,  or  was  the  effect  of  a  certain  parallelism, 
or  the  iteration  of  the  thought  in  balanced  or  par- 
allel members,  it  is  obvious  that — since  not  only  the 
prosody,  but  even  the  pronunciation  of  the  Hebrew 
language  is  in  a  great  measure  lost — in  reading  its 
poetry  even  our  most  skilled  Hebraists  can  do  but 


172      LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

scant  justice  to  the  harmonic  arrangement  of  the 
words.  We  are  able  to  scan  and  correctly  intone 
the  odes  of  Horace;  but  the  lyrics  of  Isaiah  we  can 
neither  scsPn  nor  intone  so  as  to  give  them  the 
proper  metrical  effect.  Whatever,  therefore,  may 
have  been  the  prosodial  structure  of  Hebrew  po- 
etry, one  thing  is  certain,  that  very  different  from 
what  they  are,  as  read  by  us,  must  have  been  the 
Psalms  of  Moses,  Asaph,  and  David,  when,  set  to 
music,  they  were  sung  or  chanted  in  the  choral 
services  of  the  Temple. 

The  other  great  disadvantage  under  which  Hebrew 
poetry  labors  is,  that  by  the  ordinary  reader  it  can 
be  judged  of  only  from  translations.  Now  even  in 
prose — in  poetry  of  course  still  more  so — the  finer 
shades  of  thought,  in  being  transfused  into  another 
language,  lose  much  of  their  force  and  beauty;  just 
as  of  volatile  odors  much  of  the  aroma  evaporates 
when  they  are  poured  into  a  new  vessel.  And, 
moreover,  while  the  great  poets  of  Greece  and 
Eome  have  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  translated 
by  great  poets,  the  bards  of  Palestine  have  not  yet 
been  so  fortunate.  Dryden  and  Pope,  the  transla- 
tors of  Virgil  and  Homer,  were  unquestionably 
poets;  but  one  would  hesitate  to  say  as  much  of 
Sternhold  and  Hopkins,  or  of  Tate  and  Brady,  or 
of  Francis  Rous. 

Those  who,  by  their  talents  and  scholarship,  were 
qualified  to  be  judges,  have  not  hesitated  to  award 


HEBREW   POETRY.  173 

the  superiority  to  Hebrew  over  Greek  and  Latin 
poetry.  Sir  Daniel  Sandford,  whose  classic  taste 
none  will  dispute,  has  pronounced  his  opinion  in  the 
following  terms:  "That  any  one  who  has  studied 
the  poetry,  history,  and  philosophy  of  the  Hebrews, 
even  merely  as  specimens  of  composition,  should 
lightly  esteem  them,  is  impossible.  In  lyric  flow 
and  fire,  in  crushing  force,  in  majesty  that  seems 
still  to  echo  the  awful  sounds  once  heard  beneath 
the  thunder- clouds  of  Mount  Sinai,  the  poetry  of 
the  ancient  Scriptures  is  the  most  superb  that  ever 
burned  within  the  breast  of  man."  Even  Milton, 
who,  of  all  our  poets,  will  be  least  suspected  of 
underrating  the  ancient  classics,  leaves  no  doubt  of 
the  comparative  estimate  he  had  formed  between 
them  and  the  bards  of  the  Bible;  as  witness  the 
following  passage  which  he  has  put  into  the  mouth 
of  Christ  himself: 

"  Or,  if  I  would  delight  my  private  hours 
With  music  or  with  poem,  where,  so  soon 
As  in  our  native  language,  can  I  find 
That  solace  ?     All  our  law  and  story  strewed 
With  hymns,  our  psalms  with  artful  terms  inscribed, 
Our  Hebrew  songs  and  harps,  in  Babylon, 
That  pleased  so  well  our  victor's  ear,  declare 
That  rather  Greece  from  us  their  art  derived ; 
111  imitated,  while  they  loudest  sing 
The  vices  of  their  deities,  and  their  own, 
In  fable,  hymn,  or  song,  so  personating 
Their  gods  ridiculous,  and  themselves  past  shame. 
Remove  their  swelling  epithets,  thick  laid 
As  varnish  on  a  harlot's  cheek,  the  rest 
Thin  sown  with  aught  of  profit  or  delight, 
Will  far  be  found  unworthy  to  compare 


4, 
174      LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

With  Zion's  songs,  to  all  time  tastes  exalting 

Where  God  is  praised  aright,  and  God-like  men 

The  Holiest  of  Holies,  and  his  saints — 

Such  are  from  God  inspired,  not  such  from  thee — 

Unless  where  moral  virtue  is  expressed 

By  light  of  nature,  not  in  all  quite  lost." 

Were  then  the  Hebrew  bards  possessed  of  higher 
poetical  talent,  or  had  they  attained  to  greater 
metrical  skill  than  the  Grecian  and  Koman  poets? 
We  scarcely  presume  to  say  so;  but  will  rather  own 
that  in  point  of  natural  genius  and  acquired  culture 
they  were  inferior.  It  must  also  be  admitted  that 
in  form  and  variety  the  ancient  classic  poetry  sur- 
passes the  Hebrew.  Yet  in  substance — in  the 
thoughts  and  the  themes — the  latter  is  incompa- 
rably superior.  It  draws  its  inspiration  from  a 
source  which  was  inaccessible  to  other  ancient  liter- 
atures; and  dwells  in  a  region,  pure,  serene,  truth- 
ful, and  religious,  to  which  they  could  not  attain. 
Could  Homer,  for  example,  have  chosen  a  divine 
theme,  and  had  he  been  divinely  inspired,  then 
Homer  would  probably  have  been  the  first  among 
sacred,  as  he  is  confessedly  the  first  among  profane 
poets.  But  wanting  both  these,  the  mere  force  of 
genius,  high  as  it  carried  his  muse,  could  not  bear 
her  up  to  those  supernal  bights  where  the  Hebrew 
muse  had  planted  her  footsteps  on  celestial  light. 
The  poets  of  Greece  might  be  compared  to  one  of 
its  own  eagles  soaring  from  its  mist-capped  eyrie  on 
Mount  Parnassus  toward  the  sun — its  dank  wings 
half  reflecting,   half  absorbing   the    incident   rays ; 


HEBREW   POETRY.  175 

while  the  poets  of  Palestine  are  as  an  eagle  darting 
downward  from  the  sun,  its  wings  so  steeped  in 
light  direct  from  the  solar  font,  that  they  continue 
to  illumine  the  rock  of  Horeb  or  Sinai,  on  which  it 
perches  with  a  halo  of  supernatural  glory. 

And  yet,  though  divine,  how  instinct  with  human 
sentiments  is  the  Hebrew  poetry.  It  throbs  with 
all  natural  sympathies,  pulsates  with  the  joys  and 
the  sorrows,  the  hopes  and  the  fears,  which  are 
universal  to  humanity.  Celestial  born,  it  neverthe- 
less owns  the  sisterhood  of  the  muses;  is  passionate 
or  plaintive;  wreathed  in  smiles  or  bathed  with 
tears;  crowns  itself  with  the  laurel,  the  olive,  or 
the  cypress;  lifts  its  voice  to  the  lively  tones  of  the 
timbrel  and  dulcimer,  or  sinks  it  to  the  dirge-notes 
of  the  solemn  harp — according  as  it  yields  itself  to 
the  varying  moods  and  emotions  of  our  human 
nature.  The  glorious  hymn  of  victory  which  Moses 
sang,  and  Miriam  echoed  back,  on  the  shores  of  the 
Red  Sea,  utters  in  every  line  the  natural  senti- 
ments of  gratitude.  The  elegiac  strains  of  Jere- 
miah, tear-steeped  in  the  prophet's  own  sorrow, 
touch  a  responsive  sadness  wherever  a  true  patriot 
beholds  his  country  forlorn  and  desolate.  The 
heart-bursts  of  penitence  which  came  from  the 
trembling  strings  of  David's  lyre  are  felt  by  every 
Christian  who  mourns  his  backslidings,  as  if  the 
strings  of  that  lyre  were  those  of  his  own  breast. 

No  poetry  could  be  more  truly  human  than  this 
same  poetry,  which  is  truly  divine.     And  this  com- 


176      LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

posite  character — its  literal  humanity  and  its  literal 
divinity — we  give  as  the  first  distinctive  feature  of 
Hebrew  poetry,  because  to  it  alone  it  belongs. 

Another  composite  character  of  Hebrew  poetry 
which  I  would  instance  is,  that  while  intensely 
national,  it  is  yet  of  no  nation — while  strictly  local 
it  nevertheless  belongs  to  no  locality.  On  taking 
up  the  Psalms  of  David,  composed  as  they  were 
in  the  first  instance  to  furnish  a  Psalter  for  Pales- 
tine, you  find  them  in  their  structure,  their  senti- 
ments, their  imagery,  their  entire  cast  of  thought, 
and  historic  allusions,  unmistakably  Jewish.  For 
whether  in  martial  ode  the  nation  celebrates  its  vic- 
tories, or  in  sacred  hymn  the  poet  pours  forth  his 
own  individual  emotions,  you  feel  that  you  are 
listening  to  Jews.  Indeed  no  poetry  could  bear  a 
deeper  or  broader  mark  of  nationality.  The  coun- 
try, the  climate,  the  customs,  the  peculiar  religious 
institutions,  rites,  and  ceremonies,  and  the  unique 
history  of  the  Israelites,  are  all  so  faithfully  and 
vividly  reflected  in  the  Hebrew  poetry,  that  there 
is  no  mistaking  any  one  song  for  a  poem  of  any 
other  people.  And  yet  these  songs  have  touched  a 
chord  which  at  this  day  continues  to  vibrate  through 
the  bosom  of  the  universal  brotherhood.  The  hym- 
nologist  of  the  East  has  been  confessed  to  be  the 
sacred  poet  of  the  West.  The  Psalter  of  the  Jewish 
Temple  has  been  adopted  as  the  Psalter  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church.  The  Hebrew  lyre  has  been  tuned  by 
Gentile  nations  to  the  same  olden  themes;    to  the 


HEBREW  POETRY.  177 

self-same  olden  words  wliicli  breathed  from  its 
strings  in  the  days  of  David. 

But  how  happens  it  that  a  poetry  which  is  so 
national  has  been  adopted  by  all  nations — that 
hymns  which  are  so  epochal  possess  such  perennial 
interest?  I  reply,  this  can  only  be  because  the 
Hebrew  poetry  has  been  drawn,  as  all  true  poetry 
ever  is,  from  the  deep  well  of  those  imperishable 
feelings  which  belong  to  no  one  country,  or  people, 
or  age ;  but  to  all  ages,  and  all  peoples,  and  all  coun- 
tries, because  to  mankind. 

Thus  has  the  Hebrew  muse  accomplished  what  no 
other  muse  has  ever  been  able  to  do — it  has  in  its 
primitive  hymns  given  articulate  expression  to  the 
religious  feelings  and  experiences  of  universal  pos- 
terity. 

Another  characteristic  feature  of  Hebrew  poetry, 
closely  associated  with  the  former,  is,  that  while  it 
is  of  the  East  yet  it  essentially  differs  from  the 
general  type  of  Eastern  poetry.  A  gorgeous  im- 
agery, inflated  epithets,  and  extravagant  figures, 
characterize  the  poetry  of  the  East.  In  these  chil- 
dren of  the  sun,  imagination,  like  the  gardens  of 
their  tropical  clime,  would  seem  to  put  forth  flowers 
of  excessive  luxuriance.  But  the  poetry  of  the 
Bible,  though  steeped  in  Eastern  warmth,  is  distin- 
guished by  great  simplicity,  artlessness,  and  genuine 
feeling.  Instead  of  the  pomp  of  Oriental  grandeur, 
its  images  are  generally  taken  from  Nature  in  her 
simplest  forms;  and  those  figures  which  are  derived 


178       LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

from  local  objects  are  usually  of  a  kind  with  whicli 
men  of  every  age  and  country  can  easily  sympar 
thize.  As  was  to  be  expected  in  a  poetry  so  gen- 
uine, you  perceive  a  reflex  copy  of  objective  nature; 
the  deep,  rich  coloring,  along  with  the  ample  ornate 
foliation  of  Eastern  flora,  being  transferred  to  the 
pages  of  the  Hebrew  bards.  Yet  not  like  other 
Oriental  poetry  does  theirs  copy  what  is  merely 
topical,  or  paint  in  colors  which  exceed  those  of 
nature.  It  is  a  faithful  transcript;  but  a  tran- 
script which  is  softened  and  subdu'ed;  breathing 
rather  the  spirit  than  affecting  to  copy  the  forms  of 
Nature  in  her  luxuriant  climes.  And  the  reason  of 
this  is  not  difficult  to  perceive.  The  sacred  poets 
could  not  be  natives  of  the  East  and  not  exhibit 
an  Oriental  cast  of  thought  and  expression;  but 
from  their  possessing  a  truer  appreciation  of  Nature, 
they  have  penetrated  beneath  local  and  climatal 
varieties  to  her  deeper  characteristics;  and  by  trans- 
ferring these  to  their  poetry,  have  made  it  of  uni- 
versal significance.  Then,  besides  this,  the  great- 
ness and  sacredness  of  their  themes  have  toned  down 
the  Oriental  hues  of  their  poetry ;  while  a  wider 
breadth  has  been  imparted  to  it  by  the  conscious- 
ness which  they  must  have  felt  that  their  mission 
was  to  universalize  the  poetry  of  their  nation,  as 
God's  chosen  vehicle  by  which  to  convey  sacred 
truth  to  the  latest  generations  of  our  scattered 
race. 

Another  characteristic  of   Hebrew  poetry  is  its 


HEBREW   POETRY.  179 

originality.  This  is  owing  to  two  causes — its  ex- 
treme antiquity  and  the  uniqueness  of  its  themes. 
It  is  the  most  archaic  of  all  poetries.  Standing 
nearer  than  any  other  to  the  first  days  of  creation, 
it  fell  to  it  to  be  the  first  to  sing  creation's  hymn. 
And  how  greatly  sublimer  every  way  is  the  muse 
which  has  sung  of  the  origin  of  worlds,  and  of  the 
race,  than  those  which,  by  the  aid  of  fable  and  in- 
vention, have  attempted  to  trace  the  rise  of  a  nation 
or  the  birth  of  a  single  people.  The  hero  of  ancient 
Hebrew  poetry  was  no  ^Eneas — the  founder  of  a 
particular  dynasty ;  but  the  first  man — the  primal 
father  of  the  race.  It  has  justly  been  asked,  ''Ho- 
mer had  his  teachers,  but  who  taught  Moses?" 
Hebrew  song  had  indeed  no  pattern  to  copy  from — 
no  older  muse  than  itself  to  imitate.  It  is  essen- 
tially and  entirely  original — self-educed,  self-devel- 
oped. It  is  no  exotic  transplanted  from  some  sunnier 
clime.  No  warp  crossed  into  a  foreign  woof.  No 
echo  of  an  older  minstrelsy.  Other  poesies  have 
sprung  from  that  of  Palestine;  but  it  sprang  from 
none.  The  first  of  vocal  streams,  it  issued  direct 
from  its  fountains  in  the  depths  of  nature,  when 
these  were  filled  by  the  inspiration  of  God.  Other 
bards  may  borrow  and  imitate — the  bards  of  the 
Bible  lend  and  create. 

Another  marked  characteristic  of  Hebrew  poetry 
is  its  profound  religiousness.  All  true  poetry  in  its 
higher  forms  is  religious;  for  it  is  the  impassioned 
utterances  of  the  soul  when  it  is   seeking  after,  or 


180      LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE   BIBLE. 

when  having  found,  it  stands  confronted  with  the 
highest  perfection,  either  actual  or  ideal.  If  only 
ideal,  then  poetry  is  simply  the  apotheosis  in  song 
of  the  amplified  conceptions  of  the  soul  itself.  But 
when  the  poet  stands  in  the  presence  of  the  actual  di- 
vinity— the  all-good,  the  all- beautiful,  the  all-true — 
then  his  song  becomes  instinct  with  ideas  which  are 
above  and  beyond  his  own;  and  is  animated  with  a 
fire  which  has  descended  from  an  altar  which  is 
higher  than  that  of  his  muse.  Now  in  the  Hebrew 
poetry  it  is  the  actual,  not  the  ideal,  divine  which 
is  celebrated.  The  bards  of  Palestine  stood  in  the 
immediate  presence  of  the  Jehovah — they  heard  his 
voice — they  listened  to  the  echoes  of  his  footsteps — 
they  looked  upon  his  awful  symbols — beheld  the 
miracles  of  his  power — and  received  his  inspiration. 
Hence  a  divine  and  imperishable  power  is  in  all  their 
songs;  and  their  poetry,  more  than  that  of  all  other 
nations,  is  characterized  by  its  pure,  and  rich,  and 
living  religious  element. 

It  rings  and  rolls  through  the  ages  as  one  contin- 
uous hymn  of  praise  to  the  Creator  and  the  Re- 
deemer, God.  It  is  the  one  grand  psalm  of  piety, 
many- voiced,  yet  ever  the  same  choral  symphony. 
At  first  you  listen  to  it,  faintly  breaking  on  the  ear, 
as  if  it  were  the  caught- up  echoes  of  those  music- 
notes  which  the  sons  of  the  morning  had  raised  in  cre- 
ation's hymn;  till,  deeponiug  and  widening,  like  the 
river  in  its  flow,  you  hear  it  pour  a  fuller  minstrelsy 
as  it  seems  to  mingle  with  the  heavenly  choirs. 


HEBREW   POETRY.  181 

In  what  mood  or  frame  can  devotion  be  when  it 
shall  not  find  articulate  expression  to  its  thoughts 
and  its  feelings  in  the  sacred  hymns  of  Israel? 
What  emotions,  joyous  or  mournful,  would  it  pour 
forth  in  vocal  utterance,  for  which  it  shall  not  find 
the  appropriate  words  in  the  Psalms  of  David?  Is 
there  an  inmost  chord  which  he  has  not  touched  ? — 
a  condition  of  the  religious  consciousness  which  he 
has  not  anticipated? — a  single  pent-up  feeling  of 
devotion,  which  with  him  as  its  interpreter  needs 
now  to  be  voiceless?  The  lofty  aspiration,  the 
winged  hope,  the  weeping  contrition,  the  grateful 
thanksgiving,  the  wishful  supplication,  the  broad 
human  sympathy,  the  devout  sentiment,  have  all 
been  articulated  by  him  in  the  language  of  sacred 
poetry. 

Another  distinctive  feature  of  Hebrew  poetry  is 
its  spontaneousness.  Open  the  Psalter  at  any  part, 
you  find  streams  of  song  pouring  forth  as  the  brooks 
and  water-falls  which  gush  down  the  mountains  of 
Palestine  after  the  latter  rain.  Not  more  free  was 
the  murmur  of  the  winds  through  the  cedar  forests 
of  Lebanon,  than  is  the  music  of  David's  song.  As 
the  trees  of  Eden,  so  does  this  tree  of  sacred  song 
seem  to  bourgeon  and  to  blossom,  while  there  was 
not  a  man  to  till  the  ground.  All  is  ease,  freedom, 
naturalness.  There  is  no  constraint,  no  efi'ort,  no 
afiectation,  seemingly  no  art.  The  heart  was  full, 
and  being  full  overflowed  in  spontaneous  song. 

The  last  distinctive    feature   of   Hebrew  poetry 


182      LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS    OF    THE   BIBLE. 

which  I  shall  mention  is  its  great  range  and  variety 
of  subject.  With  imperial  eye  the  sacred  muse 
looked  out  on  flood  and  fi3d — on  land  and  ocean — 
on  earth  and  sky — on  the  starry  night  and  the  sunlit 
day — on  the  quiet  pastures  and  the  battle-field — on 
the  bowers  of  love  and  the  bier  of  death — on  the 
solitary  haunts  of  the  crowded  city — on  the  king's 
palace  and  the  shepherd's  tent:  she  beheld  infancy, 
manhood,  old  age;  grief,  joy,  hope,  despair;  time 
and  eternity — death  and  immortality — heaven  and 
hell:  all  forms  she  saw,  all  passions,  all  beings, 
all  things  visible  and  invisible;  all  periods  past, 
present,  and  to  come :  these  all  her  eye  beheld  and 
scanned,  and  weaving  her  visions  into  song,  she  has 
left  to  remotest  generations  the  gathered  treasures 
of  her  universal  poesy. 


HEBREW   POETRY.  183 


CHAPTER    X. 

HEBREW   POETRY— CONTINUED. 

With  regard  to  the  forms  of  poetry,  it  must  be 
confessed  that  there  is  not  the  same  variety  among 
the  Hebrews  as  is  to  be  found  among  the  Greeks, 
the  Eomans,  and  even  the  nations  of  India.  For 
while  the  epic  and  the  drama,  the  two  highest 
styles  so  far  as  mere  art  is  concerned,  were  culti- 
vated successfully  by  these,  among  the  Israelites  we 
find  only  their  germs  or  first  rudiments.  But  as 
we  shall  see,  this  might  arise  from  other  causes 
than  the  want  of  the  requisite  literary  cultivation. 
Indeed,  we  can  not  look  upon  the  attempts  which 
have  been  made  to  find  the  regular  epic  and  drama 
in  the  Hebrew  poetry  otherwise  than  as  betraying 
the  want  of  a  just  appreciation  of  its  true  character. 

An  epic  poem  requires  an  heroic  age  sufficiently 
remote  to  enable  the  poet  to  found  upon  its  tradi- 
tions, which  by  his  time  have  fallen  into  that  degree 
of  obscurity  which  leaves  him  at  full  liberty  to  mix 
poetic  fable  with  historical  facts.  While  it  thus 
allows  the  poet  to  adorn  his  subject  by  means  of 
fiction,  antiquity  is  also  favorable  to  those  high  and 
august  ideas  which  epic  poetry  is  designed  to  raise, 
since  it   tends   to   aggrandize,  in   our   imagination, 


184       LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

both  persons  and  events.  If  the  epoist  chooses  his 
subject  within  any  period  of  history  with  which  we 
are  intimately  acquainted,  he  will  either  be  wanting 
in  grandeur,  or  appear  extravagant.  We  have  an 
instance  of  this  in  [Lucan]  and  Voltaire,  who  have 
both  unwisely  attempted  to  bring  the  epic  muse 
within  the  verge  of  real  and  authenticated  history. 
The  former,  in  his  Pharsalia,  by  confining  himself 
to  strict  historical  truth,  has  rendered  his  story 
jejune;  while  the  latter,  in  his  Henriade,  asserting 
more  liberty,  has  mingled  the  true  and  the  fictitious 
in  a  manner  which  is  utterly  incongruous  and  gro- 
tesque. Homer,  it  is  true,  selected  a  subject  which 
was  not  so  very  remote  from  his  own  times,  for  he 
lived,  as  is  generally  believed,  only  two  or  three 
centuries  after  the  Trojan  war.  But  at  that  early 
age,  through  the  want  of  written  records,  tradition 
would  more  rapidly  fall  into  the  degree  of  obscurity 
most  proper  for  epic  poetry. 

Let  us  now  advert  to  the  Hebrew  history,  from 
which,  of  course,  whatever  is  historical  in  Hebrew 
poetry  had  to  be  taken.  We  shall  not  find  that 
history  wanting  in  an  heroic  age;  for  such  unques- 
tionably was  the  patriarchal  age;  such  also  was  that 
of  the  judges;  and  such,  in  its  earlier  period,  that 
of  the  monarchy.  Not  in  these  epochs  of  Hebrew 
history  were  wanting  the  elements  for  epic  song. 
Heroic  deeds  worthy  to  be  immortalized — wonderful 
events  rising  into  the  miraculous — a  pilgrim  march 
of  forty  years  through  the   sterile  wilderness — the 


HEBREW  POETRY.  185 

tread,  the  toils,  the  havoc  of  war,  when  a  single 
people,  aided  by  Heaven,  overthrew  the  multitudin- 
ous hosts  of  Philistia,  Moab,  Bashan,  Media,  and 
Canaan — the  foundations  of  a  great  nation  laid 
amid  marvels  of  human  prowess  and  portents  from 
heaven — the  establishment  of  a  worship  which  to  a 
gorgeous  ritual  united  a  pure  faith,  and  which,  ere 
it  could  yet  boast  the  most  magnificent  Temple  ever 
reared  to  religion,  was  imposing  in  its  simple  taber- 
nacle of  curtains — a  chivalry  which  raised  herdsmen 
into  heroes,  made  tender  youths  vie  with  long- 
trained  veterans,  and  taught  gentle  maidens,  laying 
aside  the  timbrel,  to  seize  the  sword,  forgetful  of 
their  weakness  in  avenging  their  country's  wrongs. 
If  the  epic  muse  essays  to  sing  of  heroism,  here 
were  heroes — if  to  recite  some  illustrious  enterprise, 
here  were  many  such — if  with  high  sentiments  to 
warm  our  hearts,  here  were  the  very  highest — if  by 
crowning  virtuous  characters  with  her  immortal 
verse,  to  excite  our  admiration  and  provoke  us  to 
imitate  them,  here  were  characters  worthy  to  be 
thus  crowned — if  beside  the  altar  to  consecrate  song 
by  the  solemnities  of  devotion,  here  was  the  purest 
altar  and  here  the  noblest  fane. 

How  then,  with  her  history  so  full  of  the  heroic 
element,  has  Palestine  no  epic?  Is  the  reason  why 
she  can  boast  no  Iliad  that  she  gave  birth  to  no 
Homer?  If  this  was  the  case,  then  we  shall  have 
to  admit  that  her  bards  were  unequal  to  the  highest 

form  of  poetry.     But  we  take  the  reason  to  have 
^       ^  16 


186      LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

been,  not  any  weakness  in  their  poetic  genius,  but 
rather  that,  guided  by  its  correct  intuitions,  they 
perceived  that  their  national  history  was  not  suit- 
able for  the  epos.  There  was  too  much  of  truth 
and  reality  in  its  heroic  age  to  admit  of  poetic  fic- 
tion. Moses,  the  historian  and  also  poet,  might 
justly  claim  to  have  written  a  prose  epic;  but  it 
must  be  by  the  poet  of  another  land  that  the  rich 
materials  which  the  Pentateuch  supplies  were  to  be 
woven  into  poetic  fictions.  The  son  of  Amram  lived 
too  near  the  realities,  was  too  much  an  actor  in  the 
most  remarkable  of  them,  for  himself  to  have  chron- 
icled them  in  epic  song.  The  same  thing  might  be 
said  of  David,  Israel's  second  great  poet,  with  refer- 
ence to  its  third  heroic  age — the  early  period  of  the 
monarchy.  Nor  might  Palestine's  epic  be  written 
by  any  of  its  later  poets;  for  the  wonderful  events 
which  made  up  its  earlier  history  being  preserved 
in  written  records,  did  not,  like  the  early  histories 
of  other  nations,  assume  the  legendary  form;  nor 
did  it  degenerate  into  mythology,  or  pass  from  the 
truthfulness  which  was  its  essenc^e;  but  retained 
through  all  periods  its  character  of  earnest,  lofty, 
and  impressive  reality.  Instead,  therefore,  of  the 
circumstance  of  Hebrew  poetry  containing  no  epic 
being  taken  as  an  indication  that  the  Hebrew  poets 
were  unequal  to  this  highest  form  of  poetry,  it 
ought  rather  to  be  received  as  evidence  that  they 
had  the  just  appreciation  of  the  conditions  under 
which  it  is  proper  for  the  poet  to  attempt  this  de- 


HEBREW  POETRY.  187 

partment  of  his  art.  They  found  no  earlier  history 
of  other  lands  worthy  of  epic  commemoration;  and 
the  history  of  their  own  land  was  too  grand  a 
reality  to  be  mixed  with  fiction.  Yet  must  they 
have  been  conscious,  that  though  not  in  form,  yet 
in  spirit,  their  poetry  and  often  their  prose  was 
highly  epical;  and  mayhap  at  times  in  one  of  those 
visions  which  genius,  with  its  forecasting  glances, 
has  of  distant  futurities,  they  would  surmise  that 
some  great  poet,  born  in  another  clime,  might  yet 
turn  to  their  pages  to  seek  for  the  materials  out  of 
which  to  form  the  foundation,  and  in  no  small 
measure  the  fabric  of  his  sacred  epic.  Such,  at  all 
events,  has  proved  to  be  the  case.  And  so  long  as 
the  Paradise  Lost  survives,  besides  being  a  monu- 
ment of  our  Milton's  genias,  it  will  equally  be  a 
proof  that  though  Moses  wrote  no  epic  poem,  his 
Pentateuch  presents  the  richest  materials  for  one. 

In  the  New  Testament,  also,  Milton  found  mate- 
rials for  the  epic;  and  the  subject  which  he  has 
selected  for  his  "Paradise  Regained"  might  be 
taken  as  a  confirmation  of  our  statement  that,  by 
the  peculiarities  of  their  national  history,  the  sacred 
poets  felt  themselves  shut  out  from  epic  song.  The 
question  which  Milton  had  to  decide  was,  which 
part  of  the  Savior's  life  was  it  best  to  select  as  that 
in  which  paradise  was  regained.  Some  have  been 
of  opinion  that  he  should  have  taken  the  crucifix- 
ion, which  was  the  crowning  and  decisive  event  in 
our  Lord's  history,  and  where  the  poet  would  have 


188       LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

had  a  much  wider  field  than  in  the  temptation. 
But  Milton  had  a  truer  perception  of  the  conditions 
of  the  epos.  The  crucifixion  is  narrated  in  full  de- 
tail by  the  four  Evangelists;  if  Milton  had  modi- 
fied, or  in  any  way  altered  their  narrative,  he  would 
have  shocked  the  religious  sense  of  all  Christians; 
yet  the  structure  of  an  epic  poem  would  often  re- 
quire that  he  should  so  modify  them.  With  a  fine 
sense  of  this  difiiculty,  he  chose  the  narrow  basis 
of  the  temptation  in  the  wilderness,  because  the 
whole  had  been  wrapped  up  by  Scripture  in*  a  few 
obscure  abstractions,  which  the  poet  could  expand 
into  epical  pictures  without  ofi'ense  to  the  nicest 
religious  scruple. 

None  of  the  Hebrew  poets  can  be  said  to  be 
dramatists  in  the  sense  in  which  we  would  apply 
that  term  to  Euripides  or  Shakspeare.  There  is  no 
comedy,  of  course,  in  the  sacred  volume;  but  neither 
is  there  formal  tragedy.  This  absence  of  the  drama, 
we  apprehend,  was  not  owing  to  a  want  of  the 
requisite  literary  cultivation,  but  is  rather  to  be 
accounted  for  by  the  religious  earnestness  of  the 
Hebrews;  the  solemnity  of  the  subjects  with  which 
they  had  to  do  in  their  literary  productions,  and 
the  vivid  reality  with  which  even  the  most  primi- 
tive events  in  their  national  history  continued  to 
abide  in  the  memory  of  the  people.  Like  the  epic, 
though  not  i  1  eqval  degree,  the  drama  affects  an- 
tiquity; at  least  it  prefers  to  retire  behind  the 
fresh    footprints    of    more    recent    history,    because 


HEBREW  POETRY.  189 

there  it  can  lead  us  along  the  dimmer  and  more 
winding  by-paths  of  tradition,  which,  as  the  foster- 
mother  of  fiction,  prepares  materials  for  the  poet's 
hand,  and  will  not  witness  against  him,  when  he 
gives  them  a  still  more  fictitious  form.  A  legend- 
ary history,  with  its  outline  of  facts  which  the  poet's 
fancy  can  fill  up,  is  essential  to  the  drama.  But 
a  legendary  history  was  wanting  to  the  Hebrews. 
Their  sacred  books  so  preserved  the  national  chron- 
icles, that,  after  the  lapse  of  centuries,  any  incidents 
which  their  poets  could  have  dramatized  had  all 
the  fresh  vividness  of  cotemporaneous  events.  And 
this  we  take  to  be  the  true  cause  of  the  absence  of 
the  formal  drama  in  Hebrew  poetry.  Yet  there  are 
not  wanting  abundant  elements  for  the  drama;  nor 
can  we  fail  to  trace  its  rudimentary  outlines.  In 
the  Song  of  Solomon  several  draviatis  personce  can 
be  discovered  speaking  and  acting.  In  the  book  of 
Job  the  dramatic  element  of  the  Hebrew  muse  is 
developed  in  a  still  more  marked  form,  and  a  more 
decided  degree.  And  we  know  not  which  to  ad- 
mire most  in  this  admirable  production,  the  great 
boldness  with  which  the  poet  has  introduced  the 
machinery — the  contrivances  and  even  the  plot  of 
the  drama — or  his  strong  self-restraint  in  confining 
these  within  those  limits  which  the  imagination, 
warming  with  its  theme,  might  have  overstepped, 
unless  chastened  by  deep  religious  feeling. 

But  if  Hebrew  poetry  is  wanting  in  the  epical 
and  the  dramatic,  it  is  peculiarly  rich  in  the  lyrical. 


190      LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

In  its  stricter  acceptation  lyric  poetry  is  such  as 
is  sung  to  the  harp  or  lyre.  It  was  greatly  culti- 
vated by  the  ancients,  among  whom  Anacreon,  Al- 
cseus,  Sappho,  and  Horace  are  distinguished  as  lyric 
poets.  In  modern  times  the  epithet  has  been  trans- 
ferred to  all  kinds  of  verse  partaking  in  any  degree 
of  the  same  nature  as  that  to  which  it  was  first 
applied.  The  predominance  of  feeling  is  what  chiefly 
distinguishes  a  lyric  composition,  the  poet  being 
supposed  either  directly  to  express  his  own  emo- 
tions, or  to  clothe  the  emotions  of  others  in  appro- 
priate expression. 

The  lyric  poetry  of  the  Hebrews  embraced  a 
great  variety  of  topics;  from  the  shortest  and  most 
fleeting  effusion,  to  the  loftiest  subjects,  treated  in  a 
full  and  detailed  manner.  It  was  also  composed  for 
a  variety  of  occasions,  as  when  some  great  national 
event  was  to  be  commemorated;  likewise  for  set 
holiday  seasons,  when  it  formed  a  part  of  the 
national  worship.  Not  unfrequently  it  was  used 
by  individual  worshipers  on  presenting  their  thank- 
offerings;  nor  alone  within  the  precincts  of  the 
Temple,  but  in  the  palace  and  the  shepherd's  tent, 
on  the  battle-field,  among  the  palm-groves  and  the 
pasture-fields,  was  heard  the  Hebrew  lyre;  for 
whatever  the  occasion,  the  Hebrews  were  a  people 
whose  emotions  seemed  to  find  spontaneous  utter- 
ance in  song.  The  lyric  music  of  Palestine  ran 
equally  through  all  the  moods  of  the  human  soul, 
nothing  being   too  lowly,  too  deep,  or  too  high  for 


HEBREW   POETRY.  191 

it.  Softly  and  sweetly  it  could  sing  of  tlie  benigu 
effects  of  brotherly  love;  with  burning  raptures,  yet 
less  vehement  than  Sappho's,  it  has  given  expres- 
sion to  the  lover's  passion.  It  uttered  its  wail  over 
the  bier  of  death,  and  threw  its  graceful  imagery 
over  the  nuptial  couch.  It  lisped  in  numbers  for 
the  children,  and  poured  forth  its  divine  philosophy 
for  the  sage.  It  told  how  the  horse  and  the  Egyp- 
tian rider  were  sunk  in  the  depth  of  the  sea;  and 
with  plaintive  penitence  confessed  the  frequent  back- 
slidings  of  God's  favored  people.  It  lingered  round 
the  roses  of  Sharon,  with  their  fragrance  to  perfume 
the  breath  of  music;  and  it  soared,  as  on  eagle 
wing,  into  the  bights  of  the  sky,  to  borrow  luster 
from  its  orbs. 

Of  the  several  species  of  the  lyric,  the  most  com- 
mon were  the  ''Hymn,"  or  ''Psalm  of  Praise,"  and 
the  "Dirge,"  or  "Song  of  Sorrow." 

Of  the  hymn,  or  ode,  it  is  needless  to  give  exam- 
ples; the  reader  has  only  to  turn  up  the  Hebrew 
Psalter,  where  he  will  find  abundance  of  both  kinds 
of  this  composition — that  which  is  sometimes  called 
the  less  ode,  which  is  characterized  by  sweetness 
and  ease;  and  that  also  which  is  known  as  the 
greater  ode,  whose  characteristics  are  sublimity, 
rapture,  and  quickness  of  transition.  The  ode,  or 
hymn  of  praise,  had  its  origin  in  victory,  deliver- 
ance, the  reception  of  bounties,  and  generally  those 
happy  events  and  auspicious  occasions  which  excited 
the  soul  to  joy  and  gladness,  and  were  celebrated 


192       LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS  OF   THE   BIBLE. 

with  music,  often  accompanied  with  dancing,  in  the 
public  assemblies  of  the  people,  or  after  a  more 
solemn  manner  in  the  sacred  courts  of  the  Temple. 
The  very  peculiar  history  of  the  Hebrew  nation — 
their  notable  deliverances,  as  in  their  exodus  from 
Egypt ;  their  frequent  victories ;  the  manifold  divine 
favors  bestowed  upon  their  land;  their  rare  social 
and  ecclesiastical  privileges;  the  brilliance  of  their 
iearly  monarchy;  their  illustrious  roll  of  heroes,  of 
prophets,  and  princes,  furnished  abundant  materials 
for  the  lyric  hymn,  which  broke  out  so  frequently 
in  pseans  of  victory  and  thanksgiving,  both  in  the 
tents  of  Israel  and  in  her  Temple  and  her  palaces. 
Of  elegiac  poetry  many  very  beautiful  specimens 
occur  in  the  Scriptures.  David's  lament  over  Saul 
and  Jonathan  is  so  perfect  an  example  of  the  elegy 
that  I  can  not  refrain  from  quoting  it  in  full: 

"  The  gazelle,  0  Israel,  has  been  cut  down  on  thy  hights ; 
How  are  thy  mighty  fallen  1 

Tell  it  not  in  Gath,  publish  it  not  in  the  streets  of  Askelon, 
Lest  the  daughters  of.  the  Philistines  rejoice, 
Lest  the  daughters  of  the  uncircumciscd  exult. 

Hills  of  Gilboa,  no  dew  nor  rain  come  upon  your  devoted  fields  I 
For  there  is  stained  the  heroes'  bow, 
Saul's  bow  never  anointed  with  oil. 

From  the  blood  of  the  slain,  from  the  fat  of  the  mighty, 
The  bow  of  Jonathan  turned  not  back. 
And  the  sword  of  Saul  came  not  idly  home. 

Saul  and  Jonathan  !  lovely  and  pleasant  in  life  1 
And  in  death  ye  are  not  divided  ; 
Swifter  than  eagles,  8tron;;er  than  lions  » 


HEBREW   POETRY.  193 

Ye  daughters  of  Israel !  weep  for  Saul  ; 

He  clothed  you  delicately  in  purple, 

He  put  ornaments  of  gold  on  your  apparel. 

How  are  the  mighty  fallen  in  the  midst  of  the  hattle  1 
0  Jonathan,  slain  in  thy  high  places  1 

I  am  distressed  for  thee,  brother  Jonathan  ! 
Very  pleasant  wast  thou  to  me  ; 
Wonderful  was  thy  love,  more  than  the  love  of  woman. 

How  are  the  mighty  fallen. 

And  the  weapons  of  war  perished !" 

Pope's  elegy  on  an  unfortunate  lady  has  been 
justly  admired,  and  a  still  higher  praise  has  been 
bestowed  on  Gray's  elegy ;  but  we  venture  to  claim 
for  David's  lament  an  incomparable  superiority  over 
either  of  these,  excellent  as  they  confessedly  are. 
They  will  not  once  compare  with  it  in  natural  meta- 
phor, in  vehemence  of  emotion,  in  tenderness  of 
sorrow,  or  in  simple  beauty  of  expression.  They 
want  that  occasional  ruggedness  which  marks  the 
language  of  deep  grief;  they  run  on  too  smoothly 
for  its  choked  utterances;  do  not  alternate  suffi- 
ciently between  rapidity  and  repose,  with  its  vary- 
ing moods;  and  are  without  the  freshness  of  a 
sorrow  newly  steeped  in  tears.  The  flowers  which 
Pope  strews  upon  the  bier  of  unfortunate  beauty, 
instead  of  being  dropped  as  from  a  trembling  hand, 
are  artistically  disposed  after  the  manner  of  a  deco- 
rator. The  polished  stanzas  of  Gray,  in  place  of 
drenching  tears,  are  spangled  with  metaphors  which 
look  too  much  like  gems  set  by  a  lapidary.  With 
the  English  poets  there  is  an  excess  of  fancy,  and  a 


194       LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE   BIBLE. 

great  deal  too  mucli  of  art;  whereas  the  Hebrew 
bard,  as  befits  the  elegiac  muse,  is  all  feeling  and 
nature.  Several  of  the  Psalms,  composed  on  occa- 
sions of  distress  and  mourning,  are  in  the  elegiac 
style.  The  forty-second  Psalm,  in  particular,  is  in 
the  highest  degree  tender  and  plaintive,  presenting 
us  with  what  may  be  termed  a  spiritual  elegy,  when, 
in  dirge-like  strain,  a  forlorn  soul  laments  its  being 
denied  access  to   God  in  his  sanctuary. 

But  chief  among  the  Hebrew  elegists  is  Jeremiah. 
His  Lamentations  present  the  most  regular  and  per- 
fect elegiac  composition.  As  the  prophet  mourns 
over  the  destruction  of  the  Temple  and  the  holy 
city,  and  the  overthrow  of  the  whole  State,  nothing 
could  exceed  for  dirge-like  grandeur,  his  melan- 
choly strains;  and  the  images  which  he  assembles 
are  of  the  most  affecting  description.  Put  together 
and  united  in  one  book,  executed  with  consummate 
skill,  yet  natural,  and  unrestrained  as  is  the  voice 
of  sorrow,  these  Lamentations  present  an  altogether 
unique  specimen  of  writing,  which  indeed  could  have 
had  its  birth  no  where  but  in  a  Hebrew  soul;  and 
could  have  been  poured  forth  over  no  other  land  than 
that  of  Israel.  Only  on  the  fall  and  ruin  of  Jerusa- 
lem could  sorrow  have  raised  these  so  sad  wailings, 
or  patriotism  have  shed  these  so  melancholy  tears. 
The  great  grief  of  the  prophet  is  justified  by  its 
cause.  The  mind  of  Jeremiah  was  of  a  soft  and 
delicate  texture;  by  nature  he  was  mild  and  retir- 
ing, highly  susceptible   and   sensitive,  especially  to 


HEBREW  POETRY.  195 

sorrowful  emotions.  Such  a  one,  under  the  influence 
of  divine  energy,  was  peculiarly  fitted  to  wake  the 
solemn  harp  to  the  dirges  of  sorrow  and  lament- 
ation. The  strength  of  his  anguish  makes  it  sub- 
lime. His  poetry  has  all  the  majesty  of  a  sorrow 
which  will  not  be  comforted,  yet  it  withdraws  not 
into  austere  seclusion,  but  moved  by  an  irrepressible 
sympathy  with  the  miserable,  it  finds  utterance  in 
the  most  touching  descriptions  of  their  condition. 
His  is  not  a  selfish  grief,  which  weeps  merely  to  fill 
its  own  bitterness  with  tears;  but  moved  by  pity, 
he  exhibits  the  objects  of  his  song  as  objects  of  sym- 
pathy, and  founds  his  expostulations  on  the  miseries 
which  he  exhibits.  His  book  of  Lamentations  is  an 
astonishing  exhibition  of  his  power  to  accumulate 
images  of  sorrow.  Through  this  series  of  elegies 
one  object  only  is  present  to  his  muse — the  expres- 
sion of  grief  for  the  forlorn  condition  of  his  country ; 
and  yet  he  so  shifts  the  lights  and  shadows,  has 
such  a  diversity  of  figures,  that  not  only  are  his 
mournful  strains  not  felt  to  be  tedious  reiterations, 
but  the  reader  is  captivated  by  the  plaintive  melan- 
choly which  pervades  the  whole. 

Others  of  the  Hebrew  poets  have  left  us  speci- 
mens of  the  elegy,  which  though  briefer  than  Jere- 
miah's, are  admirable  of  their  kind.  With  what 
dirge-like  grandeur  David  has  sorrowed  over  the 
misfortunes  of  Israel,  as' in  Ps.  xliv,  Ix,  Ixxiii !  So  also 
have  Ezek.,  xxvii,  xxxii,  and  Is.  i,  xxi,  mourned  over 
the  deser^ration  or  the  destruction  of  the  holy  city. 


19G      LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

Of  didactic  poetry  we  have  a  splendid  specimen 
in  the  Book  of  Proverbs,  where  the  poet  tears  away 
the  tinsel  mask,  and  brands  the  uncovered  brow  of 
Vice  as  with  a  searing  iron,  while  he  adorns  Virtue 
with  her  own  pure  loveliness,  and  strings  upon  her 
virgin  robes  the  Oriental  pearls  of  Eastern  poetry; 
with  a  satire  two-edged  and  keen  are  mingled  the 
grave  sagacity  of  the  sage,  the  elegance  of  the 
finished  scholar,  the  profound  maxims  of  the  phi- 
losopher, and  reflections  on  human  life  and  charac- 
ters, which  show  the  accurate  observer  and  astutious 
moralist.  The  Book  of  Ecclesiastes,  by  the  same 
author,  is  another  example  of  the  didactic  species 
of  poetry.  In  this  remarkable  piece,  the  satire  of 
the  poet  seems  for  a  time  to  indulge  itself  in  burn- 
ing scorn  and  biting  sarcasm:  flinging  withered 
leaves  on  the  footsteps  of  Summer,  strewing  the 
path  of  memory  with  ashes,  and  closing  the  vista  of 
hope  with  gloom;  but  ere  long  the  satirist  is  for- 
gotten in  the  sage,  whose  more  genial  utterances 
fall  like  reviving  showers  on  the  experiences  which 
satire  with  its  hot  breath  had  scorched  and  blight- 
ed, when  all  is  not  left  to  seem  a  wilderness,  but 
one  spot  at  least  is  spared,  where,  as  in  a  bower  of 
beauty  and  peace  and  pleasure.  Virtue  can  dwell  with 
Hope,  serene  and  secure.  Hence  the  effect  which 
the  first  portion  of  this  poem  might  produce  on 
some  minds,  by  fostering  a  miserable  or  mocking 
cynicism,  is  admirably  counteracted  in  the  closing 
portions;  and  the  entire  piece,  by  the  poet's  felici- 


HEBREW  POETRY.  19T 

tous  use  of  contrast,  forms  one  of  the  noblest  speci- 
mens of  a  didactic  poem. 

Pastoral  poetry,  as  miglit  be  expected  from  the 
pastoral  habits  of  the  Israelites,  is  very  plentiful  in 
their  poetical  books;  and  their  sweet  singer,  having 
himself,  in  his  youth,  tended  the  flocks,  did  not 
when  he  had  reached  his  regal  estate  forget  to 
touch  his  harp  to  pastoral  strains,  as  witness  espe- 
cially the  23d  Psalm.  The  Book  of  Euth  is  an  ex- 
quisite bit  of  rural  description — a  charming  Idyllian 
picture  throughout. 

I  could  willingly  linger  with  the  sacred  poets,  in 
an  attempt  to  give  a  critical  analysis  of  their  sev- 
eral styles  and  methods,  and  to  institute  a  compari- 
son between  them  and  the  poets  of  other  lands. 
But  besides  my  conscious  inability  to  do  justice  to 
such  a  task,  another  consideration  restrains  me. 
This  is  a  branch  of  sacred  literature  which  has  been 
largely  treated  by  abler  pens ;  I  shall  therefore  con- 
tent myself  with  referring  the  reader  who  wishes 
for  full  information  to  such  writers  as  Lowth, 
Ewald,  Herder,  Noyes,  and  Jebb;  while  those  who 
have  not  leisure  to  peruse  these  erudite  works  will 
find  the  subject  treated  in  a  more  popular  form,  yet 
with  great  acumen  and  eloquence,  in  Gilfillan's 
"Bards  of  the  Bible." 


198       LITERAKY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE   BIBLE. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

THE  HISTORICAL  IN  THE  SCRIPTURES. 

After  what  has  been  said  under  the  head  of  the 
''Picturesque,"  I  do  not  know  that  I  have  any- 
thing more  to  add  respecting  the  style  and  outward 
structure  of  the  sacred  histories.  In  their  method 
and  design  there  are  certain  peculiarities  which 
merit  a  few  observations. 

The  question,  What  is  history?  like  the  question, 
What  is  poetry?  has  given  rise  to  a  good  deal  of 
discussion,  which  repeated  attempts  at  definition  can 
hardly  be  said  to  have  settled.  That  history  has  a 
higher  function  than  simply  to  furnish  a  bare  regis- 
ter of  events,  or  a  book  of  annals,  or  a  chrono- 
logical table,  is  now  universally  admitted.  On  facts 
every  veracious  history  of  course  is  founded;  but  if 
there  be  only  these,  then  you  have  merely  the 
bones,  or  at  best  the  bones  and  the  flesh,  while  the 
spirit  is  wanting.  What  then  is  that  vital  principle 
by  which  the  historian  shall  animate  the  materials 
of  past  ages?  Some  have  sought  for  it  in  the  vivac- 
ity which  can  be  imparted  to  a  narrative  by  pictur- 
esque description  and  artistic  grouping.  Others 
have  sought  in  philosophy  the  principle  which 
should  impart  life  to  their  labors,  with  their  narra- 


THE   HISTORICAL   IN   THE   SCRIPTURES.  199 

live  of  events  having  interwoven  instructive  lessons, 
political  and  philosophical  truths,  and  enlarged  views 
of  human  nature  and  social  progress.  That  the  em- 
bellishments of  literature  and  the  expositions  of  phi- 
losophy communicate  a  measure  of  life  to  history  we 
readily  admit,  but  we  can  not  think  that  its  real  life 
has  to  be  infused  into  it  from  extraneous  sources, 
or  by  mechanical  aids.  We  believe  it  to  have 
life  in  itself — an  inborn  vitality — a  spirit  of  its  own 
which,  if  the  historian  shall  seize  it,  will  impart  to 
his  pages  the  warm  breath  which  it  breathes.  A 
history  which  is  only  vivified  by  the  aids  of  litera- 
ture and  philosophy  does  not  appear  to  us  to  resemble 
a  dead  body  while  under  the  action  of  the  galvanic 
current:  there  is  the  movement  of  the  limbs,  but  it 
is  after  all  the  spasms  of  death;  the  mouth  opens, 
but  there  is  no  living  voice;  the  eyelids  lift,  but 
vision  is  not  there. 

What,  then,  if  not  literature  or  philosophy,  is  the 
spirit,  the  intelligence,  the  life  of  past  ages?  We 
reply,  ''It  is  religion."  The  life  of  history  is  God; 
and  only  in  so  far  as  he  is  acknowledged  and  pro- 
claimed in  the  events  which  are  narrated  shall  these 
events  be  living  history. 

"Do  not  those  revolutions,"  asks  D'Aubigne, 
*' which  hurl  kings  from  their  thrones,  and  precipi- 
tate whole  nations  to  the  dust — do  not  those  wide- 
spread ruins  which  the  traveler  meets  with  among 
the  sands  of  the  desert — do  not  those  majestic  relics 
which  the  field  of  humanity  presents  to  our  view — 


200       LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

do  they  not  all  proclaim  aloud  a  God  in  history? 
Gibbon,  seated  among  the  ruins  of  the  capitol,  and 
contemplating  its  august  remains,  owned  the  inter- 
vention of  a  superior  destiny.  He  saw  it,  he  felt  it; 
in  vain  would  he  avert  his  eyes.  That  shadow  of  a 
mysterious  power  started  from  behind  every  broken 
pillar;  and  he  conceived  the  design  of  describing  its 
influence  in  the  history  of  the  disorganization,  de- 
cline, and  corruption  of  that  Eoman  dominion 
which  had  enslaved  the  world.  Shall  not  we  dis- 
cern amid  the  great  ruins  of  humanity  that  Al- 
mighty Hand,  which  a  man  of  noble  genius — one 
who  had  never  bent  the  knee  to  Christ — perceived 
amid  the  scattered  fragments  of  the  monuments  of 
Eomulus,  the  sculptured  marbles  of  Aurelius,  the 
busts  of  Cicero  and  Virgil,  the  statues  of  Csesar 
and  Augustus,  Pompey's  horses,  and  the  trophies 
of  Trajan,  and  shall  we  not  confess  it  to  be  the 
hand  of  God?" 

If,  then,  God  is  the  life  of  history,  of  all  histories 
that  which  we  find  in  the  sacred  Scriptures  has  the 
most  life.  Every  page  is  vitalized;  for  on  every 
page  the  historian  constantly  keeps  in  view  a  per- 
sonal God,  and  a  special  Providence.  A  high  au- 
thority has  said,  "History  is  philosophy  teaching 
by  example."  The  Scripture  histories  suggest  a 
loftier  aphorism — history  is  Providence  teaching  by 
example. 

But  the  sacred  historians  present  God  in  history 
not  merely  to  a  greater  extent  than  profane  histori- 


THE   HISTORICAL   IN   THE   SCRIPTURES.  201 

ans  are  wont  to  do,  but  in  a  sense  altogether  pecu- 
liar to  themselves.  Every  true  historian,  while 
reciting  the  actions  of  men  and  of  nations;  while 
tracing  the  vicissitudes  of  empires;  while  memor- 
izing the  conflicts  and  collisions  out  of  which,  as 
with  violent  throes,  peace  and  progress  have  been 
born;  and  while  following  the  footsteps  of  those 
great  men  who,  springing  from  society  at  their 
appointed  epochs,  have  communicated  a  fresh  im- 
pulse to  their  generation,  which,  passing  down  the 
channel '  of  centuries,  exerts  an  influence  on  the 
destiny  of  the  race;  while  doing  this,  the  true  his- 
torian will  strive  to  keep  before  his  own  mind,  and 
the  minds  of  his  readers,  that  in  all  these  God  is 
ever  present;  that,  whether  it  be  nations  or  indi- 
viduals, the  conflicts  of  war  or  the  arts  of  peace, 
the  rise  or  the  fall  of  kingdoms,  a  single  generation 
or  many  successive  generations  of  men,  God's  foot- 
prints may  be  traced,  and  the  working  of  his  hand 
be  seen,  on  the  vast  theater  where  all,  though  few 
of  them  may  wot  of  it,  are  the  instruments  by 
which  his  great  designs  are  being  accomplished. 
Every  true  historian,  I  say,  will  do  this.  But  the 
sacred  historians  do  more  than  this.  For  it  has 
fallen  to  them  not  merely  to  proclaim  a  Divine 
Providence  in  history,  when  God  acts  through  sub- 
ordinate agents,  each,  as  used  by  him,  performing 
their  several  acts  in  the  grand  drama,  but  also  to 
record  the  immediate  operations  of  God,  when,  dis- 
pensing with  subordinate  instrumentalities,  he  has 


202     LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

made  bare  his  arm  in  the  sight  of  all  the  nations. 
In  ordinary  history,  though  present,  God  is  unseen. 
In  the  Bible  history  he  is  not  only  present,  but  his 
very  voice  is  heard;  his  footprints  are  traceable, 
even  as  when  a  man  walketh  on  the  sand;  the 
mantle  of  second  causes  folded  back,  his  hand  is 
visible  in  its  naked  majesty  and  power;  across  tho 
historic  stage  he  is  seen  to  move,  himself  the  actor 
in  the  marvelous  scene.  In  a  word,  the  sacred  his- 
tory is  a  record  of  miracles;  and  in  this  respect  it 
stands  alone.  Only  to  it  has  been  permitted  to 
enter  the  region  of  the  supernatural,  and  so  to  un- 
cover the  Divine  phenomena  that  the  reader  is  more 
than  made  to  feel,  for  he  doth  in  truth  see,  that 
this  is  the  finger  of  God.  That  an  awful  grandeur 
should  surround  such  a  history  is  only  what  was  to 
be  expected.  But  how  should  we  have  been  pre- 
pared, till  the  history  itself  presented  it,  to  find  so 
great  a  simplicity  in  the  record  of  the  miraculous? 
Compare  a  battle-scene,  as  described  by  Thucydides 
in  his  account  of  the  war  of  the  Peloponnesians  and 
Athenians,  where  it  was  only  host  that  encountered 
host,  with  a  battle-scene  in  the  wars  of  Israel,  when 
it  w^as  the  artillery  of  heaven — the  hailstones  hurled, 
and  the  bolted  lightning  flashed  directly  from  Jeho- 
vah's hand — that  routed  the  foe;  how  elaborate  and 
highly  worked  the  former,  how  simply  and  artlessly 
narrated  is  the  latter! 

Another  characteristic  of  the  sacred  histories  is 
the  unity  of  direction  in  which  the  several  portions 


THE  HISTORICAL  IN  THE   SCRIPTURES.  203 

or  fragments  point.  Here  are  separate  historical 
pieces,  written  by  different  hands,  at  wide  intervals, 
and  under  very  diverse  circumstances;  yet  are  they 
like  so  many  converging  lines  of  light  making  for 
their  focal  point.  No  matter  what  may  be  the 
historian's  own  epoch,  or  the  local  circumstances 
which  determine  his  stand-point;  he  writes  with  his 
eye  ever  upon  one  object — the  manifestation  of  God 
in  the  redemption  of  the  race.  Hence  it  happens, 
what  we  shall  find  in  no  other  literature,  that  some 
thirty  historical  pieces,  each  but  fragmentary,  and 
covering  many  centuries,  when  put  together,  instead 
of  a  mere  fasciculus,  form  a  continuous  volume, 
whose  several  parts  fit  in  and  harmonize  as  thor- 
oughly as  if  one  pen  had  written  the  whole.  Or 
let  us  say,  rather,  that  so  great  a  unity  in  diversity 
can  only  be  accounted  for  on  the  admission  that  it 
is  the  work  of  one  superintending  mind — even  his 
who  is  the  Father  of  the  ages,  and  who  seeth  the 
end  from  the  beginning. 

A  feature  in  the  Biblical  histories,  which  can  not 
fail  to  strike  one,  is  that  events  which  the  profane 
historian,  if  noticing  them  at  all,  would  have  barely 
recorded,  are  given  with  much  minuteness;  while 
other  events,  which  the  profane  historian  would 
have  minutely  chronicled,  are  dispatched  in  the 
briefest  notice.  The  explanation  of  this  will  be 
found  in  the  design  of  the  Biblical  history,  which 
was  to  develop  God's  special  providence  in  the  evo- 
lution of  a  scheme  of  remedial  grace.     This  the  in- 


204      LITERAET  CHARACTERISTICS  OP  THE   BIBLE. 

spired  historian  has  constantly  in  his  view,  so  that 
he  dwells  on  whatsoever  event,  be  it  great  or  small, 
which  at  the  time  reflected  most  directly  upon  it. 
And  how  marvelously,  by  this  means,  have  the  sa- 
cred historians  illustrated  their  great  theme,  while, 
in  a  literary  point  of  view,  their  method  gives  a 
singularly-pleasing  variety  to  their  pages.  For  in 
the  progress  of  the  narrative,  which,  opening  with 
an  account  of  the  creation,  unfolds  itself  in  the 
grand  vicissitudes  of  nations,  and  going  forth  from 
Palestine  as  a  center,  embraces  the  entire  ancient 
world,  we  are  ever  meeting,  interspersed  with  great 
historical  events,  charming  episodes  of  domestic  life 
and  snatches  of  biography.  While  there  is  being 
exhibited  to  us,  on  the  vast  theater  of  the  world, 
where  kingdoms  are  seen  to  rise  and  fall,  a  special 
providence,  suddenly  we  are  introduced  to  some 
quiet  nook  of  home-life,  that  there,  as  well,  we  may 
behold  the  finger  of  God;  so  that  never,  in  any 
other  history,  has  it  been  so  vividly  illustrated,  that 
the  Great  Ruler  of  the  universe  worketh  out  his 
plans  alike  in  the  great  and  the  small. 

The  Hebrew  nation,  with  whose  history  so  large 
a  portion  of  the  historical  Scripture  is  taken  up, 
has  been  represented  by  Voltaire  as  an  obscure 
Syrian  tribe;  yet  that  tribe  has  exercised  an  amaz- 
ing influence  over  the  destinies  of  mankind — over 
all  the  feelings,  thoughts,  beliefs,  and  deeds  of 
men,  even  to  the  most  remote  corners  of  the  earth. 
What  about  that  people  was  there  so  peculiar  as  to 


THE   HISTORICAL   IN   THE    SCRIPTURES.  205 

account  for  this  fact?  Wherein  did  it  differ  from 
the  other  nations  of  antiquity,  that  while  their 
thoughts,  feelings,  beliefs,  have  become  extinct,  hav- 
ing left,  as  the  fossil  races  on  the  rocks,  merely 
their  dead  remains,  the  thoughts,  feelings,  and  be- 
liefs of  the  ancient  Hebrews  have  an  existence,  a 
life,  and  a  potential  influence  to  this  present  time? 
The  peculiarity  of  the  Jewish  nation  was  this — that 
they  alone  were  a  people  educated  by  a  revelation. 
Not  the  least  interesting  and  instructive  aspect  of 
their  history  comes  out  when  we  view  it  in  this 
light,  since  it  exhibits  by  what  means,  and  after 
what  method,  God  himself  educated  and  disciplined 
a  nation,  so  that  it  might  fulfill  the  part  which  he. 
intended  it  to  do,  in  the  education  of  the  race  at 
large. 

To  unfold  this  phase  of  the  Hebrew  history  would 
lead  us  into  a  question  which  our  limits  will  not 
allow  us  to  present  with  the  details  necessary  to  its 
right  elucidation.  It  is  a  question,  however,  which 
well  merits  the  consideration  alike  of  the  philoso- 
pher and  the  theologian.  The  reader  who  has  the 
wish  to  prosecute  it  will  find  it  treated  with  singu- 
lar ability  in  the  dissertation  on  "  Moral  and  Meta- 
physical Philosophy"  in  the  Encydopcedia  Metro- 
politana. 

That  the  Bible  history  is  the  most  ancient  of  alL 
histories,  is  a  fact  universally  known.  But  in  what 
sense  is  it  the  most  ancient?     Herodotus,  the  earli- 


206      LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE   BIBLE. 

est  profane  historian  extant,  completed  his  history 
in  the  year  B.  C.  444 ;  Moses  had  completed  the  Pen- 
tateuch in  the  year  B.  C.  1451,  so  that  he  preceded 
Herodotus  by  upward  of  a  thousand  years.  In  this 
sense  then  the  Bible  history  is  the  most  ancient, 
that  it  was  the  first  written.  But  it  is  also  the 
most  ancient  as  to  its  contents.  Herodotus  carries 
his  history  back  to  somewhat  over  700  years  before 
the  Christian  era;  Moses  carries  his  back  4000 
years  before  that  era,  for  he  commences  with  an 
account  of  the  creation  of  the  earth;  gives  us  the 
name,  and  the  names  of  the  children,  of  the  first 
created  man;  traces  down  to  his  own  times,  in  the 
direct  line  of  genealogical  descent,  the  birth,  the 
life,  and  the  death  of  the  gray  fathers  of  the  world. 
On  his  pages  we  have  the  sole  monument  of  pri- 
meval history;  for  where  tradition  had  lost  its 
way,  finding  no  footprints  on  the  sands  of  ancient 
time,  Moses  has  laid  bare  the  footsteps  of  living 
men — even  of  that  man  who  first  opened  his  eyes 
upon  the  infant  earth. 

In  striking  contrast  with  the  fact  that  it  is  the 
most  ancient,  place  the  fact  that  the  Scripture  his- 
tory is  also  the  most  modern  of  histories.  For 
events  which  have  yet  to  be  written  by  the  histo- 
rian, and  which  coul<l  not  have  a  place  on  his  pages, 
seeing  they  have  not  yet  happened,  will  be  found 
already  narrated  by  the  sacred  historians.  If  to 
them  it  was  given  to  restore  the  past,  it  was  also 
permitted  unto  them  to  anticipate  the  future.     They 


THE  HISTORICAL  IN  THE   SCRIPTURES.  207 

have  described  the  full  round  circle  of  history.  On 
the  one  side  it  touches  the  beginning,  on  the  other 
the  end  of  time. 

Let  us  for  a  moment  ponder  the  value  of  the  pro- 
phetic element  in  the  Biblical  history. 

And  first,  it  is  a  voucher  for  the  divinity  of  that 
book  which  contains  the  history.  With  regard  to 
miracles  as  an  evidence  of  Christianity,  it  must  be 
confessed  that  so  far  they  have  a  diminishing  value. 
For,  removed  by  centuries  from  the  date  of  their 
performance,  we  can  scarcely  be  said  to  be  in  so 
favorable  a  position  to  feel  their  full  force,  as  those 
were  who  saw  them  wrought,  or  who  received  an 
account  of  them  from  eye-witnesses.  No  doubt  test- 
imony may  be  a  sufficient  voucher,  however  distant 
the  event  which  it  has  transmitted,  still  testimony 
can  not  be  said  to  increase  in  evidential  value  as 
the  channel  lengthens  through  which  it  has  to  flow. 
The  evidence  from  miracles,  therefore,  though  still 
sufficient,  may  be  said  to  be  diminished;  but,  as  if 
to  compensate  for  this,  the  evidence  from  prophecy 
has  an  increasing  force;  for  the  older  a  prediction 
is,  just  in  proportion  is  it  a  more  valuable  testimony 
when  it  has  been  fulfilled. 

The  infidel  meets  us  with  the  taunt  that  the 
Bible  is  so  very  old  a  book;  but  does  he  not  per- 
ceive how  the  taunt  recoils  upon  himself?  It  is  an 
old  book,  the  oldest  extant  by  very  many  centuries; 
and  stamped  with  its  own  antiquity  are  many  of  the 
predictions  which  it  contains.     They  lie  far  back 


208      LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

behind  the  longest  conceivable  range  of  human  fore- 
sight or  conjecture.  They  separate,  by  the  breadth 
of  centuries,  the  event  from  its  first  announcement. 
Across  that  wide  interval  no  human  eye  could  have 
caught  the  forecast  shadows  of  the  rise  and  fall  of 
empires  yet  to  be  founded;  the  building  and  ruin 
of  cities  of  which  not  one  stone  had  yet  been  laid. 
The  Bible  is  ancient,  and  so  are  its  prophecies. 
Will  then  the  infidel  read  the  pages  of  the  mod- 
ern traveler  who  describes  the  present  condition  of 
Egypt,  Babylon,  Tyre,  Ephesus,  Smyrna,  Thyatira; 
and  having  read  these  then  turn  to  the  pages  of 
this  so  old  book? 

A  Gibbon  or  a  Volney,  friends  to  Christianity 
neither  of  them,  have  nevertheless  become  witnesses 
to  its  truth.  They  could  not  describe  what  they 
saw  among  the  ruined  cities  of  the  East,  without 
repeating  almost  the  identical  words  of  the  ancient 
seers.  In  copying  what  the  iron  hand  of  time  had 
written  on  broken  pillars  and  shattered  friezes,  on 
tumbled  masses  of  fallen  masonry,  and  on  sand- 
mounds  drifted  from  the  desert,  which  had  buried 
beneath  them  the  once  magnificent  stadium,  the 
gorgeous  palace,  and  the  stupendous  temple,  the 
traveler  has  unwittingly  transcribed  the  fulfillment 
of  many  an  ancient  prediction. 

Now  let  us  view  the  two  facts  in  combination. 
The  Scripture  history  is  at  once  the  most  ancient 
and  the  most  modern  of  histories;  and  if  we  do  not 
mistake,  we  shall  find  here  a  very  striking   proof 


THE   HISTORICAL   IN   THE    SCRIPTURES.  209 

of  its  authenticity.  This  history  as  to  the  remote 
past  has  no  cotemporary  witness  to  vouch  for  its 
credibility.  It  moves  in  its  solitary  track  through 
ancient  centuries  quite  alone.  If  I  ask  for  corrobo- 
rative testimony,  there  is  no  voice  so  ancient  to 
bear  witness  unto  its  credibility;  no  other  record  so 
archaic  with  which  I  may  compare  it.  There  are 
no  coeval  echoes  even,  not  a  single  cotemporary 
tradition,  to  which  this  history  can  refer  me  for 
testimony  of  its  authenticity.  Shall  I  be  safe  in 
following  it,  in  taking  it  as  my  guide?  The  reply 
is  this:  A  history  which  has  been  and  is  still  being 
proved  authentic  with  reference  to  the  future,  where 
it  has  shot  ahead  of  all  other  histories,  is  entitled  to 
be  credited  as  to  the  past,  where  it  has  ventured 
farther  back  than  any  other  history  has  gone.  If 
its  chronicles  of  the  future  have  been  found  correct, 
then  we  say  this  is  a  voucher  that  its  chronicles  of 
the  past  are  also  correct;  and  thus,  in  the  absence 
of  other  witnesses,  it  has  become  its  own  witness. 

But  here  we  must  qualify  our  statement  that  the 
Bible  history  as  to  the  past  is  without  cotempo- 
rary corroboration.  It  has  had  long  to  wait  for 
the  witnesses,  but  at  length  they  have  appeared. 
Nineveh  and  Babylon  were  not  without  their 
chroniclers — the  Herodotuses  and  the  Froissarts  of 
their  day — who  recorded  the  pageants  of  the  palace, 
the  victories  on  the  field  of  battle,  and  the  triumph- 
ant processions  of  the  victors.     But  strange  enough, 

though  these  chronicles  were  wiitten  on  marble  tab- 

18 


210     LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

lets  and  alabaster  slabs,  yet  they  were  lost  to  tlie 
world;  while  the  Scripture  histories,  written  on  the 
fragile  papyrus  or  the  perishable  parchment,  were 
preserved.  Had  these  former  histories  also  been  pre- 
served, the  friends  of  truth  were  ready  to  exclaim. 
How  striking  the  corroboration  they  might  have 
furnished  of  the  truth  of  the  Scripture  history! 
But  the  wish  seemed  vain.  Three  thousand  years 
had  passed  away  since  eye  looked  on  the  native 
annals  of  Babylon  or  Nineveh;  but  the  grave  has 
given  up  its  dead.  These  buried  cities  have  re- 
turned from  their  tombs,  and  their  rock-written 
histories,  which  were  hidden  so  long,  and  which 
were  believed  to  be  lost  forever,  are  disclosed.  By 
the  labors  of  Botta  and  Layard,  as  explorers,  the 
long-hidden  book  of  Nineveh's  history  has  been  ex- 
humed; while  by  the  learning  of  Professor  Grote- 
fend.  Professor  Lassen,  and  Sir  Henry  Kawlinson, 
as  interpreters,  the  characters  with  which  the  stone 
leaves  of  that  book  are  inscribed  have  been  deci- 
phered; and  now  we  may  be  said  to  have  the  annals 
of  the  Assyrian  empire  in  our  hands,  and  have  only 
to  wait  a  more  familiar  knowledge  of  the  cuneiform 
writing,  to  possess  a  more  detailed  history  of  that 
early  people  than  we  have  of  the  Greeks  and 
Eomans,  or  even  of  the  first  aboriginals  of  our  own 
island. 

And  what  is  the  bearing  of  the  discovery  and 
deciphering  of  these  long  covered,  but  now  un- 
covered, antique  tablets?     It  is  to  furnish,  during 


THE   HISTORICAL  IN  THE   SCRIPTURES.  211 

about  a  thousand  years,  a  history  which  runs  co- 
temporaneously  with  the  Scripture  narrative;  and 
at  whatever  points  these  two  histories  come  in 
contact,  the  coincidence  between  the  Ninevite  mon- 
uments and  the  Scripture  records  is  such  as  incon- 
testably  to  prove  the  genuineness  and  authenticity 
of  the  latter. 


212      LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

THE  BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

With  his  usual  profound  sagacity,  Dr.  Chalmers 
makes  one  of  his  incidental  weighty  sayings,  which 
shows  how  strongly  he  was  impressed  with  the  im- 
portance of  the  study  of  the  Scripture  biographies 
in  their  literary  aspects:  ''I  have  never  entered 
much  on  the  study  of  Scripture  characters,  though 
I  doubt  not  much  might  be  gathered  this  way, 
both  for  the  purpose  of  a  moral  influence  on  one's 
own  mind,  and  also  so  as  to  make  out  a  dramatic 
consistency  in  the  statements  given  and  the  traits 
exhibited  of  certain  individuals,  which  would  fur- 
nish an  internal  evidence  for  the  Bible." 

The  first  thing  which  probably  strikes  a  reader  in 
the  Bible  biographies  is  their  exceeding  life-likeness. 
These  portraits,  so  to  call  them,  of  the  world's 
**  gray  fathers "  are  the  merest  outlines ;  yet  so  bold 
is  the  etching,  that  one  is  reminded  of  those  studies 
of  heads  by  the  old  masters.  So  forcibly  has  the 
individual  expression  been  caught,  that,  if  I  might 
say  so,  we  recognize  the  features  across  the  breadth 
of  thirty  centuries.  The  reader  may  possibly  have 
seen  hung  on  some  household  wall  a  portrait  of  an 
anc  stor  in   the   family  whom  he  had  never  seen; 


THE   BIOGRAPHIES   OF   SCteTURB.  213 

and  yet,  if  it  is  a  work  of  high  art,  there  is  about  it 
an  individuality  of  expression,  which  somehow  pro- 
duces the  conviction  that  it  must  be  a  correct  like- 
ness. Precisely  do  we  thus  feel  in  reading  the  brief 
biographies  of  the  Old  Testament  worthies.  We 
never  saw  the  men — can  not  therefore  compare  their 
portraitures  with  the  originals;  but  so  great  is  the 
individuality  in  the  former,  that  we  are  at  once  im- 
pressed with  the  notion  that  they  are  correct  repre- 
sentations. And  then  so  familiar  and  home-like  are 
the  groupings,  that  one  forgets  for  the  time  that 
they  are  so  far  removed  from  our  own  times.  Abra- 
ham sitting  at  his  tent  door;  Isaac  going  forth  to 
the  fields  at  even- tide  to  meditate;  old  Jacob  weep- 
ing on  the  neck  of  his  long-lost  son;  these  might 
be  hung  upon  our  walls  as  household  pictures.  "We 
forget  that  they  were  the  ancients  of  olden  times, 
the  pilgrim  citizens  of  a  foreign  land.  In  so  fresh 
an  interest  have  their  memories  been  preserved, 
that  they  seem  to  be  living  still — not  strangers, 
but  our  own  familiars.  Now,  this  is  surely  the 
highest  achievement  of  the  biographic  art;  and 
unquestionably  the  sacred  biographers  have  accom- 
plished it. 

It  will  perhaps  be  said  that  the  pencil  of  the 
painter  has  assisted  us  in  figuring  to  our  mind's 
eye  the  features  of  a  Moses,  a  David,  an  Elijah,  or 
a  Samson.  But  would  the  painter's  own  conception 
of  the  individualities  of  these  ancient  Hebrews  have 
been  so  vivid,  or  so  impressively  transferred  to  the 


214       LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE   BIBLE. 

canvas,   if  their  biographies   had  been  written   by 
less  graphic  pens? 

Another  striking  feature  in  the  Scripture  biogra- 
phies is  their  variety,  or  the  great  range  of  charac- 
ter and  condition  which  they  present.  You  have  the 
hero,  the  patriot,  the  poet,  the  prophet,  the  priest, 
the  recluse,  the  politician,  the  prince,  the  plebeian, 
the  simple  patriarch  and  the  polished  courtier — all 
exhibited  with  the  exactest  individualization,  but  at 
the  same  time  with  a  comprehension  which  entirely 
takes  away  the  contractedness  which  so  generally 
disfigures  what  may  be  called  class-biography.  The 
prophet  is  represented  not  merely  as  a  prophet;  nor 
the  poet  merely  as  a  poet ;  nor  the  politician  merely 
as  a  politician;  but  each  is  delineated  also  in  the 
wider  humanity  which  unites  them  with  the  uni- 
versal brotherhood. 

Another  characteristic  of  the  Scripture  biogra- 
phies is  the  solemn,  we  might  say  awful,  grandeur 
which  surrounds  these  "holy  men  of  old"  as  actors 
in  a  divine  drama.  The  great  scheme  of  Provi- 
dence, as  it  revolves  its  majestic  cycles,  brings  them 
into  view,  each  at  his  appointed  time,  as  men  raised 
up,  specially  chosen  and  endowed,  to  act  their  parts 
in  a  history  which  evolves  itself  in  miracles  and 
epic  adventure.  The  Grecian  or  Roman  mythology 
would  have  apotheosized  such  men,  and  on  the  pages 
of  the  poets  they  would  have  figured  as  demigods. 
But  though  there  shone  around  them  a  certain  God- 
^    like  glory,  from  their  near  access  to  him  who  alone 


THE   BIOGRAPHIES   OF   SCRIPTURE.  215 

is  God,  there  is  nothing  approaching  divine  honor 
paid  to  them  in  the  Scriptures;  but  they  are  uni- 
formly spoken  of  as  men  of  like  passions  with  our- 
selves. ''I  have  said  ye  are  gods,  and  all  of  you 
are  children  of  the  Most  High;  but  ye  shall  die 
like  men,  and  fall  like  one  of  the  princes."  The 
moderation  with  which  men  of  so  heroic  a  stamp 
are  spoken  of  is  in  most  striking  contrast  with  the 
mythic  extravagance  of  ancient  profane  biography, 
to  which  we  might  apply  the  language  of  the  poet: 

"  I  have  no  spur 
To  prick  the  sides  of  my  intent,  but  only 
Vaulting  ambition,  which  o'erleaps  itself, 
And  falls  on  th'  other  side." 

If  any  where  is  to  be  found  the  true  heroic  in  its 
highest  epic  forms,  we  venture  to  say  it  is  in  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures,  which,  with  so  rare  a  modesty, 
have  memorized  the  most  brilliant  epochs  and  most 
illustrious  men  that  ever  adorned  the  history  of  a 
nation.  Fallen,  alas !  is  that  people  now,  who  were 
once  the  favored  of  Heaven;  fallen  from  being  a 
nation  of  princes,  to  be  wandering  tribes  of  misers 
and  usurers;  but  the  ancient  history  of  the  people 
of  God  is  brilliant  with  ''names  which  ascend  far 
back  to  those  high  times  when  the  Divine  Presence 
shook  the  mercy-seat  between  the  cherubim,  and 
which  derive  their  splendor  from  no  earthly  prince, 
but  from  the  awful  voice  which  bad"e  their  fathers 
be  nearest  of  the  congregation  to  the  vision.  Such 
were  the  princes  of  the  house  of  Judah." 


216      LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

Another  feature  of  the  Bible  biographies  is  their 
extreme  fidelity.  Without  exaggeration,  either  of 
praise  or  of  censure,  an  impartial  pen  has  recorded 
alike  the  virtues  and  the  vices,  what  is  to  be  imi- 
tated and  what  avoided,  in  the  lives  of  these  men 
of  old.  In  this  respect,  among  the  ancients,  the 
sacred  biographers  are  altogether  singular.  Nor  is 
the  contrast  much  less  if  we  compare  them  with 
those  modern  memoirs,  which  so  often  betray  either 
the  partiality  of  friendship  or  the  bitterness  of 
hatred.  How  often  do  we  find  the  memory  of  some 
favorite  hero  garnished  with  fulsome  panegyric,  his 
faults,  even  his  vices,  being  palliated  or  apologized 
for  under  soft  names;  while,  if  it  is  a  memory 
which  the  biographer  wishes  to  blacken,  no  epithet 
is  thought  too  severe  by  which  to  proclaim  some 
trifling  misdeed,  and  none  too  equivocal  in  which 
to  whisper  the  most  shining  action.  When  will 
those  who  employ  the  biographic  pen  learn  to  take 
for  their  exemplars  the  biographies  in  Scripture! 

One  other  feature  in  these  biographies  which  I 
would  notice,  is  what  may  be  called  their  self- 
evolved  individualization  of  character.  There  is  no 
mistaking  any  one  individual,  for  you  see  him  as  he 
is.  His  qualities,  for  good  or  evil,  stand  out  as  if 
chiseled  on  the  living  rock.  You  could  detect  his 
exact  idiosyncrasy  among  a  thousand.  Asked  to 
give  an  analysis  of  the  character  of  Moses,  or 
David,  or  Peter,  or  Paul,  you  could  have  no  man- 
ner of  difficulty  in  doing  so.     Now  turn  up  one  of 


THE   BIOGRAPHIES   OF   SCRIPTURE.  217 

the  pages  of  our  historians  when  some  notable  person- 
age has  died — the  very  same,  be  it  noted,  who  has 
figured  in  the  historian's  preceding  chapters — and 
you  will  generally  find  an  attempt  to  summarize  his 
intellectual  and  moral  characteristics;  which  sum- 
mary not  unfrequently  ascribes  to  him  qualities 
which  the  historian's  narrative  of  his  actions  had 
utterly  failed  to  suggest  to  your  own  mind.  The 
truth  is,  that,  but  for  this  analytic  list  of  qualities 
appended  to  their  lives,  you  might  close  the  book 
without  even  a  conjecture  what  the  historian  him- 
self thought  of  his  personages;  and  all  you  get  from 
the  catalogue  of  virtues  or  vices  is  his  estimate  of 
their  character.  How  different  from  this  is  the 
method  of  the  sacred  biographers!  They  never 
treat  you  to  a  summing  up  of  the  character  of  their 
personages;  they  do  not  need  to  do  so;  for  they 
have  given  so  exact  a  characterization  of  each  of 
them  in  their  narrative  of  his  actions,  that  you 
already  perfectly  know  him.  With  them  character- 
ization is  a  form  of  self-portraiture.  The  individual 
is  made  to  act  his  own  character. 

The  New  Testament,  if  less  rich  in  biographies 
than  the  Old,  contains  one  life — that  of  Christ — 
which  more  than  compensates  the  lack.  The  ques- 
tion has  often  been  asked,  but  never  yet  satisfac- 
torily answered  by  the  infidel  or  any  one  else,  how 
the  life  of  Christ,  so  incomparably  superior  to  the 
finest  creations  of  our  greatest  poets  or  romancists, 

if  a  fiction,  could  have  been  conceived  and  executed 

19 


218      LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS  OP  THE  BIBLE. 

by  a  few  illiterate  Jews?  If  ever  a  life  was,  this 
assuredly  is  an  original.  It  stands  out  unique  in 
the  gallery  of  universal  biography.  And  yet  we 
are  asked  to  believe  not  merely  that  it  is  a  historic 
fiction,  but  that  so  rare  an  imagination  as  was 
requisite  to  produce  such  a  fiction  was  possessed  by 
a  few  Galilean  fishers.  Verily,  next  to  the  life 
itself,  this  were  the  most  marvelous  of  miracles. 

I  have  already  remarked  on  the  moderation, 
amounting  even  to  modesty,  with  which  the  sacred 
biographers  speak  of  the  renowned  personages  whose 
lives  they  record.  In  no  case  is  this  more  signally 
exhibited  than  by  the  apostles,  the  biographers  of 
Jesus.  Seldom  do  you  meet  with  a  panegyric  from 
themselves  concerning  him  whom  they  loved  so 
affectionately,  and  so  profoundly  admired.  It  is 
otherwise  with  the  prophets,  for  the  Savior  not  yet 
having  appeared,  when  his  life  would  speak  for 
itself,  they  kindle  expectation  by  anticipative  eu- 
logy. He  is  the  rose  of  Sharon  and  the  lily  of  the 
valley,  the  chief  among  ten  thousand  and  altogether 
lovely.  But  when  the  Perfect  One  had  come,  what 
need  for  this  ?  His  life  would  be  its  own  panegyric. 
You  read  his  eulogy  while  you  read  his  biography. 

The  infidel  points  to  the  seeming  contradictions 
in  the  life  of  Christ  as  if  they  invalidated  its  truth- 
fulness. But  has  it  never  occurred  to  him  that 
without  these  it  could  not  possibly  be  true?  for 
how  otherwise,  we  would  ask,  could  the  life  of  the 
God-man    have    been    written?     It   behooved    both 


THE   BIOGRAPHIES   OF   SCRIPTURE.  219 

natures,  the  Divine  and  the  human,  to  preserve  their 
proper  attributes;  each,  as  occasion  called  for  it, 
was  to  speak  and  act  in  its  appropriate  character; 
and  how  could  this  be  without  apparent  contradic- 
tions? When  the  Divinity  speaks,  its  fitting  lan- 
guage is,  "I  and  my  Father  are  one;"  but  what  is 
the  humanity  to  say  other  than  "My  Father  is 
greater  than  I?"  At  Cana's  bridal  banquet  the  Son 
of  the  Highest  sits  a  guest,  and  at  his  creative 
word  the  water  reddens  into  wine;  but  when  faint 
and  foot-sore  with  travel  Mary's  son  arrives  at 
Jacob's  well,  he  is  fain  to  ask  a  cup  of  water  from 
a  stranger  woman.  In  yonder  ship,  tossed  on  the 
storm-waves  of  Genesareth's  lake,  lies  one  asleep — 
doubtless  overcome  by  fatigue,  for  many  were  his 
journey ings  and  frequent  his  night  vigils;  it  is 
Jesus  the  man,  who  sleeps  so  deep  a  slumber  in  his 
weariness  that  even  the  bowlings  of  the  tempest 
fail  to  awake  him;  but  now  awoke  by  the  cry  of 
his  disciples,  where  is  he  whom  slumber  lately  held 
fast  bound  in  its  drowsy  chain?  The  God  looks - 
out  upon  the  storm,  and  at  his  imperial  glance  the 
hurricane-winds  hold  their  breath,  and  the  wild 
waves  droop  their  surgy  crests.  These  are  seeming 
contradictions,  and  we  pray  the  reader  specially  to 
mark  that  the  sacred  biographers  never  attempt  to 
reconcile  or  even  to  explain  them.  Now  we  venture 
to  assert  that  no  impostor  ever  possessed  the  moral 
qualities  necessary  for  such  a  task.  We  much  ques- 
tion whether  he  would  have  ventured  to  pen  such 


220      LITERARY   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

apparent  contradictions,  or  if  he  had,  certain  we  are 
he  would  have  attempted  to  reconcile  them.  No, 
not  to  the  fabulist  belongs  that  bold  reliance  in  the 
majesty  of  truth,  which  sustained  the  Evangelists 
in  their  task  while  writing  the  life  of  the  God-man. 
In  the  Davidic  Psalms  we  have  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  pieces  of  autobiography  ever  penned. 
The  whole  man  is  there,  not  only  his  outer,  but  also 
his  inner  life.  As  the  eye  glances  over  these  auto- 
biographic hymns,  a  series  of  self-pictures,  struck 
off  as  it  were  by  a  process  of  mental  photography, 
seems  to  pass  before  us.  Or  shall  we  rather  call 
them  a  series  of  dissected  views,  for  the  painter  or 
the  photographer  give  only  the  outward  forms,  but 
David,  like  the  anatomist,  has  laid  bare  what  lies 
beneath.  On  reading  the  autobiography  of  a  great 
modern  poet,  we  felt  very  much  as  if  we  had  been 
standing  at  the  threshold  of  some  large  temple, 
whose  dim  lamps  reflected  phantasms  along  the 
walls,  the  shadows  but  scarce  the  shapes  of  objects. 
The  reason  of  this  we  took  to  be  that  Goethe  did 
not  know  himself.  We  found  ourselves  admitted 
only  to  so  many  of  the  poet's  inner  musings,  while 
a  curtain  seemed  ever  and  anon  to  drop,  concealing 
from  our  eye,  as  mayhap  it  had  done  from  his  own, 
the  inmost  secrets  of  the  man.  But  with  David 
there  is  no  disguise;  his  whole  soul  is  laid  open; 
so  that  his  hymns  furnish  what  we  venture  to  say 
is  not  to  be  found  in  any  other  literature — a  speci- 
men of  perfect  autobiography. 


THE  TWO   STANDARDS  OF  LITERARY  MERIT.      221 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

THE  TWO  STANDARDS  OF  LITERARY  MERIT. 

There  are  two  tribunals  at  whicli  every  work  of 
literature  or  art  must  abide  judgment;  the  one  the 
erudite  criticism  of  the  few,  the  other  the  opinion 
of  the  many.  With  regard  to  the  former,  we  shall 
admit  it  to  be  the  severer  ordeal;  but  we  have  our 
doubts  whether  the  latter  is  not  the  more  decisive. 
Those  who  best  understand  the  philosophy  of  criti- 
cism are  the  readiest  to  confess  that  the  verdict  of 
the  ''communis  sensics"  does,  in  the  long  run,  rule 
the  question  of  merit.  It  is  not  that  the  many 
have  studied  the  principles  of  taste,  or  the  theory 
of  beauty,  or  the  rules  of  criticism.  And  hence  it 
often  happens  that  they  can  give  no  other  reason 
why  a  great  picture,  or  a  great  poem,  or  a  great 
oration,  pleases  them,  than  simply  that  it  does  so. 
Yet,  in  the  end,  their  judgment  is  generally  found 
to  be  correct.  Nor  do  we  think  the  reason  of  this 
is  far  to  seek.  Nature,  the  same  which  guided  the 
painter's  pencil,  filled  the  poet's  eye,  and  touched 
the  lips  of  the  orator,  is  also  the  instructress  of  the 
multitude;  so  that  it  is  her  own  responsive  voice 
which,  through  them,  acknowledges  the  merits  of 
her  own  works.     True  art  is  a  copyist  of  Nature, 


222       LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OP  THE  BIBLB. 

and  the  closer  the  imitation  the  more  likely  the 
artist  shall  achieve  two  triumphs;  on  the  one  hand, 
his  fidelity  to  Nature  will  impart  a  measure  of  her 
elevation  and  grandeur  to  his  works;  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  they  will  reach  downward  among  the 
root-feelings,  which  are  very  much  the  same  in  all. 
Hence,  we  believe,  the  reason  why  it  happens  that 
in  the  main  the  verdict  of  the  multitude  on  works  of 
real  genius  is  correct.  Nor  may  any  author  expect 
his  fame  to  be  lasting  who  can  not  make  his  appeal 
to  this  tribunal — that  is,  to  the  judgment  of  unso- 
phisticated Nature. 

We  shall  probably  hear  it  said  that  the  attention 
of  the  multitude  is  apt  to  be  seduced  by  tinsel  and 
glitter,  and  that  their  understandings  may  be  con- 
founded by  indefinite  and  mysterious  terms,  while  a 
show  of  learning,  of  which  they  themselves  are 
consciously  deficient,  may  impose  upon  their  igno- 
rance. But,  notwithstanding,  I  am  inclined  to  be- 
lieve that  in  all  countries  the  people  are  the  best 
judges  of  genuine  eloquence.  A  frothy  bombast 
may  please  them  more  than  one  would  wish;  but 
let  a  true  orator  in  plain  and  simple  language  ad- 
dress them,  and  they  will  be  moved  to  the  depths 
of  their  nature.  When  he  has  so  studied  art  as  to 
appear  artless,  and  what  may  have  cost  him  much 
labor  is  poured  forth  with  seeming  spontaneousness, 
the  common  people  will  hear  him  gladly,  will  sway 
to  his  eloquence  as  the  branches  of  the  forest  to  the 
rush  of  winds,  and  be  infinitely  more  pleased  with 


THE   TWO   STANDARDS   OF  LITERARY  MERIT.      223 

his  natural  ornaments  than  with  any  amount  of 
vitiated  decoration. 

It  must  surely  have  been  in  a  fit  of  spleen  the 
great  Koman  lyrist  allowed  himself  to  pen  the  line: 

"  Odi  profanum  vulgus,  et  arceo." 

A  better  insight  into  human  nature  was  shown  by 
the  celebrated  French  comedian,  of  whom  it  is  re- 
corded that  he  was  accustomed  to  read  his  comedies 
before  performance  to  a  favorite  servant  or  house- 
keeper, and  when  he  perceived  that  the  passages 
which  he  intended  to  be  humorous  and  laughable 
had  no  effect  upon  her  he  altered  them.  The  same 
kind  of  principle  may  be  observed  in  another  re- 
corded habit  of  his,  that  of  requesting  the  actors  to 
bring  their  children  to  the  rehearsal  of  a  new  piece, 
that  he  might  judge  of  the  effect  of  particular  pas- 
sages by  the  natural  emotions  they  raised  in  their 
minds.  In  this  Moliere  showed  a  profound  knowl- 
edge of  human  nature,  and  of  the  philosophy  of 
criticism. 

Now,  what  we  have  to  say  of  the  Bible,  in  view 
of  the  two  tribunals  of  opinion,  is,  that  it  has  stood 
before  both  with  approbation. 

It  has  abidden  the  ordeal  of  erudite  criticism. 
Our  greatest  scholars,  who  have  given  the  grounds 
of  their  judgment,  which  they  have  justified  by 
proof-specimens,  have  pronounced  the  very  highest 
eulogiums  on  the  literary  merits  of  the  Bible.  To 
give  even  a  tithe  of  the  encomiums  which  our  men 


224      LITERARY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE   BIBLE. 

of  erudition  have  pronounced  on  this  sacred  classic, 
would  swell  out  our  pages  beyond  what  we  can 
afford.  Perhaps  we  can  not  better  summarize  their 
verdict  than  by  quoting  the  language  of  Sir  William 
Jones,  whose  refined  taste  equaled  his  erudition,  vast 
as  it  was:  "I  have  regularly  and  attentively  read 
these  Holy  Scriptures,  and  am  of  opinion  that  this 
volume,  independent  of  its  Divine  origin,  contains 
more  sublimity  and  beauty,  more  pure  morality, 
more  important  history,  and  finer  strains  of  poetry 
and  eloquence,  than  can  be  collected  from  all  other 
books,  in  whatever  age  or  language  they  may  have 
been  composed."  To  this  I  might  add  the  testi- 
mony of  a  very  different  witness,  whose  taste  for 
fine  writing  would  seem  to  have  overcome,  for  the 
time  at  least,  his  prejudice  against  Christianity; 
this  other  witness  is  Eousseau:  '*I  will  confess  to 
you,  further,  that  the  majesty  of  the  Scripture 
strikes  me  with  admiration,  as  the  purity  of  the 
Gospel  hath  its  influence  on  my  heart.  Peruse  the 
works  of  our  philosophers;  with  all  their  pomp  of 
diction,  how  mean,  how  contemptible,  are  they  com- 
pared with  the  Scripture !  Is  it  possible  that  a  book 
at  once  so  simple  and  sublime  should  be  merely  the 
work  of  man?" 

But  the  Bible  has  also  stood  at  the  tribunal  of 
unlearned  criticism.  As  was  said  of  its  Divine 
Author,  so  of  itself  with  equal  truth  may  it  be 
affirmed,  that  the  common  people  hear  it  gladly. 
Posterity  echoes  antiquity  in  its  praise;    the  voices 


THE   TWO   STANDARDS   OF  LITERARY  MERIT.      225 

of  centuries  have  attested  its  popularity;  childhood 
has  felt  the  spell  of  its  matchless  picturesqueness ; 
and  unlettered  age  has  warmed  at  the  touch  of  its 
kindling  poetry. 

And  yet  how  much  has  been  done  to  shake  the 
confidence  of  the  people  in  the  literary  merits  of 
the  Bible!  It  has  been  criticised  as  by  an  ordeal 
of  fire.  The  shafts  of  ridicule,  the  arrows  of  scorn, 
have  been  shot  at  it  from  a  thousand  quivers.  It 
has  been  branded  as  a  dangerous  book,  laughed  at 
as  a  silly  book,  and  despised  as  a  weak  book.  The 
wit  has  made  it  the  butt  of  his  jests,  the  cynic  of 
his  snarls,  the  humorist  of  his  bufibonery.  If  book 
could  be  damaged  in  the  eyes  of  the  people  by  every 
possible  combination  of  hostile  criticism,  the  Bible 
is  that  book.  But  it  has  not  proved  so.  It  still 
holds  its  place  unshaken  in  the  reverence  and  the 
admiration  of  the  multitude.  The  instinctive  taste 
of  the  common  people  has  recognized  its  literary 
beauties;  their  instinctive  susceptibility  has  felt  its 
literary  power;  and  their  instinctive  sense  of  jus- 
tice has  pronounced  a  just  verdict  upon  its  literary 
merits. 

Allusion  has  been  made  to  the  efibrts  of  the  ene- 
mies of  truth  to  disparage  the  Bible  in  the  opinion 
of  the  common  people.  It  is  surely  to  be  regretted 
that  the  friends  of  truth  have  not  been  equally  in- 
dustrious to  commend  the  literary  merits  of  the 
Bible  by  those  means  which  would  reach  the 
masses.     Has  any  thing  like  justice  been  done  to 


226     LrrERARY  characteristics  of  the  bible. 

Biblical  literature  either  in  our  elementary  or 
higher  schools?  Some  of  us  can  remember  how, 
in  the  former,  we  got  long  tasks  from  it,  and  had 
to  spell  our  way  through  ''polysyllabic  chapters 
and  joyless  genealogies."  Had  our  teachers  singled 
out  such  passages  as,  by  their  simple  beauties,  are 
calculated  to  impress  even  a  youthful  reader,  and 
made  some  attempt  to  point  out  those  which  might 
be  less  obvious,  we  have  a  strong  impression  that 
our  school-boy  associations  and  recollections  of  the 
Bible  would  be  less  irksome  and  insipid.  And  with 
reference  to  our  higher  schools,  we  can  not  help 
being  of  opinion  that,  if  occasionally  the  same  pains 
were  taken  to  point  out  the  literary  beauties  of  a 
chapter  in  Isaiah  or  Job,  as  is  done  to  exhibit  the 
beauties  of  some  passage  from  Addison  or  Milton, 
the  result  would  be  in  the  highest  degree  beneficial 
to  the  interests  both  of  literature  and  religion. 


PART    SECOND, 


LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


CHAPTER   I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

Among  the  multifarious  causes  whicli  have  helped 
to  advance  the  progress  of  modern  civilization,  that 
will  be  admitted  to  be  one  of  the  greatest  of  which 
the  three  following  facts  may  be  affirmed:  First, 
that  it  has  pioneered  the  arts  and  letters  by  as- 
sisting their  introduction  into  barbarous  nations. 
Second,  that  it  has  promoted  the  arts  and  letters  by 
assisting  their  advancement  among  civilized  nations, 
where  they  had  already  gained  a  footing.  Third, 
that  it  restored  the  arts  and  letters  to  Europe  when 
it  had  fallen  back  into  martial  barbarism,  and  re- 
stored to  Europe  its  intellectual  vigor  when  it  had 
lapsed  into  an  effeminating  superstition. 

What  then  has  been  at  once  the  pioneer,  the  pro- 
moter, and  the  restorer  of  literature  and  the  arts? 
It  will  be  our  object  to  show  that  the  history  of 
modern  civilization  gives  an  explicit  answer  to  this 
question;  and  that  its  answer  is — the  Bible. 

The  mention  of  modern  civilization  in  this  connec- 
tion suggests  the  instructive  fact,  how  very  few  of 
the  nations  of  antiquity  which  emerged  from  a  state 
of  barbarism    have   left    any    monuments    of   their 

literature  or  their  arts.     The  little  which  time  has 

229 


230     LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OP  THE  BIBLE. 

spared  of  the  history  of  the  bulk  of  ancient  nations 
is  such  as  to  occasion  but  small  regret  that  oblivion 
has  blotted  out  the  rest;  for  while  the  annals  of 
war  and  the  calendar  of  crime  are  curtailed  of  some 
of  their  chapters,  the  history  of  literature  or  of 
philosophy  has  probably  not  lost  a  page. 

We  take  it  to  be  with  nations  as  with  individuals, 
that  to  make  a  figure  in  the  world  and  leave  a 
reputation  for  eminence,  requires  a  certain  innate 
force  of  character  combined  with  natural  talent. 
Hence  we  would  conclude,  that  as  from  the  want  of 
these  the  great  mass  of  mankind  pass  away  almost 
unnoticed  by  their  cotemporaries,  and  altogether 
unknown  to  posterity;  so  from  the  lack  of  the  social 
capacity,  or  the  aggregate  natural  talents,  the  great 
bulk  of  ancient  nations  have  failed  to  perpetuate  a 
reputation,  except  for  their  barbarities  and  their 
crimes,  a  species  of  posthumous  fame  which  it  does 
not  require  much  genius  to  secure. 

And  if  we  might  carry  out  the  parallel  somewhat 
farther,  we  would  observe,  that  as  in  the  case  of  in- 
dividuals whom  Nature  may  have  endowed  with 
superior  parts,  some  have  failed  to  reach  distinction 
from  not  being  placed  in  circumstances  favorable  to 
the  cultivation  of  their  peculiar  gifts;  so  many 
nations,  which  had  in  them  the  germs  of  greatness, 
have  missed  becoming  great,  owing  to  adverse  influ- 
ences which  nipped  these  germs  in  the  bud.  Though 
true  genius  is  known  to  have  surmounted  the  great- 
est difficulties  by  its  own  indomitable  energy,  yet 


INTRODUCTORY.  231 

owing  to  poverty,  to  constitutional  baslifulness,  to 
the  want  of  patronage,  or  still  more  of  sympathy 
and  appreciation,  it  doubtless  will  have  happened 
that  "some  mute,  inglorious  Milton,"  with  the  fires 
of  poetry  in  his  soul,  has  sunk  into  the  cold  grave, 
where  the  lamp  which  under  happier  conditions 
might  nob  much  longer  have  been  flameless,  is 
quenched  forever;  and  so  we  believe  many  an  an- 
cient nation  might  have  been  heard  of  with  renown, 
had  not  the  disasters  of  its  fate  prematurely  over- 
taken it. 

We  would  venture  to  carry  out  the  parallel  yet 
another  step.  There  are  few  difficulties  in  the  pur- 
suit of  knowledge  which  the  poor  scholar  finds 
greater  than  the  want  of  books.  So  with  nations, 
this  wai\t  may  be  reckoned  among  the  causes  which 
have  prevented  many  of  them  from  attaining  to 
literary  eminence;  when  deficient  in  the  mental 
vigor  and  originality  which  are  requisite  to  produce 
a  native  literature,  they  were  also  without  the  aid 
which  an  imported  literature  would  have  afi'orded. 
The  Greeks  seem  to  have  been  endowed  by  nature 
with  that  rare  force  of  natural  genius,  which  enabled 
them  to  strike  out  an  original  literature  that  was  to 
become  a  model  to  succeeding  ages.  The  Eomans, 
less  richly  endowed  with  inventive  genius,  would 
probably  never  have  ranked  among  classic  nations, 
if  they  had  not  profited  by  the  literature  of  Greece. 

If  we  take  those  nations  which  have  been  without 
the  Bible,  we  may  classify  them  into  three  groups. 


232  LITERARY   ACniEVEMENTS   OF    THE   BIBLE. 

The  first,  represented  by  Greece,  were  those  very 
few  which  by  the  force  of  their  native  genius  reared 
for  themselves  a  native  literature.  The  second,  rep- 
resented by  Borne,  includes  those  nations,  also  few, 
which,  stimulated  and  assisted  by  a  foreign  litera- ' 
ture,  attained  to  literary  distinction.  The  third, 
including  the  great  mass  of  ancient  nations,  presents 
them  as  barely  emerged  from  the  darkness  of  bar- 
barism, when  they  passed  away  without  leaving  a 
trace  of  polite  learning  or  the  fine  arts  behind  them. 
How  differently  it  might  have  fared  with  these  had 
they  possessed  the  Bible,  will  perhaps  appear  when 
we  come  to  indicate  the  happier  fate  of  modern 
nations,  once  as  barbarous,  which  enjoy  this  best  of 
all  auxiliaries  to  civilization. 

Before  proceeding  to  illustrate  the  three  great 
facts  into  which  I  have  summarized  the  literary 
achievements  of  the  Bible,  it  will  be  proper  to  take 
a  glance  at  the  literature  and  the  arts  of  those 
nations  which,  though  destitute  of  the  sacred  vol- 
ume, have  merited  to  be  esteemed  both  literary  and 
artistic. 

As  representing  classic  antiquity  I  shall  select 
its  most  polished  nation — Greece.  No  one  will  hesi- 
tate to  own,  that  the  land  "where  burning  Sappho 
loved  and  sung;"  where  Demosthenes  won  his  ever 
immortal  and  still  increasing  fame  as  the  prince 
of  orators;  where  were  born  Praxiteles,  an  acknowl- 
edged master  of  the  beautiful,  and  Phidias,  of  the 
grand  in  sculpture;   where  arose  a  bright  succes- 


INTRODUCTORY.  233 

sion  of  poets,  painters,  sculptors,  orators,  and  histo- 
rians ;  who  not  only  shone  as  a  galaxy  in  the 
firmament  when  the  literary  stars  of  other  lands 
were  few,  but  who  still  continued  to  shine  with  as 
conspicuous  a  luster  now  when  innumerable  constel- 
lations, each  composed  of  stars  of  the  first  magni- 
tude, have  appeared  elsewhere;  no  one,  I  say,  will 
hesitate  to  own  that  this  land  has  earned  for  itself 
the  proud  distinction  of  being  the  most  classical  of 
antiquity,  or  be  surprised  that  it  has  left  to  suc- 
ceeding lands  models  in  oratory,  in  sculpture,  in 
poetry,  and  in  architecture;  and  yet  Greece  was 
without  the  Bible.  It  was  therefore  an  exaggera- 
tion to  affirm  that  the  fostering  influences  of  Revela- 
tion are  indispensable  to  the  growth  of  polite  letters 
or  high  art;  since  in  the  isles  of  the  ^gean  both 
these  had  attained  very  near  to  perfection  before 
Christianity  crossed  its  waters.  Still,  we  venture  to 
affirm  that  if  the  land  of  Homer,  of  Demosthenes, 
and  of  Phidias,  had  enjoyed  that  volume  which  is 
the  sole  divine  interpreter  of  nature  and  of  God, 
the  truest  expositor  of  truth,  and  the  most  beautiful 
embodiment  of  spiritual  beauty,  its  arts  and  its  lit- 
erature might  have  been  blameless  of  those  faults, 
which  its  most  ardent  admirers  must  admit  detract 
so  materially  from  their  singular  merit. 

Of  Grecian  poetry,  who  will  deny  the  originality 
and  wonderful  invention,  its  rich  fancy  and  creative 
imagination,   its   pathos,   its   descriptive   power,   its 

affluence   of  imagery,   its  varied  numbers   and  its 

20 


234    LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

mellifluous  diction?  Yet  was  the  poetry  of  Greece 
only  a  splendid  meteor — by  the  poetry  of  Italy 
faintly  reflected — which  failed  to  illustrate  Provi- 
dence, or  illumine  the  tomb,  or  reveal  to  mankind 
the  divinely  beautiful  and  good.  It  was  not  given 
even  to  a  Homer  to  draw  down  from  Parnassus  the 
beam  which  was  to  irradiate  the  face  of  celestial 
truth,  and  light  the  path  to  immortality.  How 
difierent  it  might  have  been  had  Homer  known  to 
invoke  Isaiah's  muse! 

As  to  the  general  literature  of  Greece,  we  shall 
not  here  inquire  whether  it  made  the  people  chaste, 
honest,  temperate,  and  truthful;  since  the  same 
question  might  be  retorted  on  Christian  literature. 
But  we  shall  rather  ask,  did  it  even  inculcate  these 
virtues,  or  assist  to  foster  them?  It  certainly  did 
not;  for  seeing  it  is  a  necessity  of  his  moral  nature 
that  man  must  reflect  the  deity  whom  he  worships, 
what  was  to  be  expected  of  the  ancient  Greek,  when 
the  gods  whom  he  saw  in  his  country's  literature 
were  liars,  thieves,  bacchanals,  and  voluptuaries? 
''Where,"  asks  an  eloquent  writer,  speaking  of  the 
Roman  deities,  and  with  equal  truth  he  might  have 
used  the  same  language  respecting  those  of  Greece, 
''shall  we  find  one  among  all  the  objects  of  their 
worship,  whose  attributes  indicate,  on  the  fancy  that 
has  imagined  it,  the  operation  of  any  thing  like 
a  principle  either  of  holiness  or  of  love?  Where 
shall  we  find  one  whom  its  worshipers  have  invested 
with   the  qualities  either   of  purity   or  of  mercy? 


INTRODUCTORT.  235 

All  their  duties  appear  to  be  the  product  of  a 
Btrange  and  affecting  combination  of  depraved  pas- 
sions and  guilty  fears.  The  principal  gods  of  the 
Pantheon  are  raised  above  men,  solely  by  the  supe- 
rior enormity  of  their  crimes;  their  greater  power 
only  enabling  them  to  be  the  greater  adepts  and 
the  greater  monsters  in  vice.  They  are  the  patrons 
and  patterns  of  all  that  is  cruel — of  intemperance, 
and  lust,  and  knavery,  and  jealousy,  and  revenge. 
Thus  men  love  to  sin;  and  they  make  their  gods 
sinners,  because  they  are  desirous  to  sin  under  their 
patronage;  yet  are  they  at  the  same  time  conscious 
of  guilt,  and  while  they  commit  sin,  and  even 
laugh  at  sin,  they  tremble  with  superstitious  appre- 
hension." 

The  Greeks  were  preeminently  an  imaginative 
people,  and  their  poetic  feeling  is  expressed  in  all 
their  works.  The  idealization  of  the  to  xaXov,  or  the 
beautiful,  went  beyond  what  any  other  people  has 
ever  reached;  and  judging  from  the  specimens  which 
have  been  preserved,  their  sculpture  has  success- 
fully translated  their  ideal  of  the  beautiful  into 
form.  Viewed  merely  as  pieces  of  art  their  higher 
statuary  is  faultless.  Yet  we  can  not  help  being  of 
the  opinion  that  there  is  in  it  a  radical  blemish, 
which  a  knowledge  of  the  Bible  Avould  have  taught 
their  sculptors  to  avoid.  Art  to  be  fully  successful 
must  attempt  only  what  is  possible — that  is,  what 
is  true.  It  is  not  enough  that  there  be  beauty  of 
form  and  expression,  but  the  higher  idea  also  which 


236        LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

that  form  is  intended  to  enshrine  must  be  such  that 
the  imagination  and  the  heart,  when  doing  obeisance 
to  truth,  can  accept  it  as  true.  For  then  only  is 
idealism  a  real  power,  when  the  ideas  which  it 
embodies  in  objective  forms  have  their  subjective 
counterparts  in  our  emotions  and  sentiments.  Now 
what  we  venture  to  affirm  is,  that  while  the  sacred 
statuary  of  the  Greeks  exhibits  the  true  and  the 
beautiful  in  form,  it  has  not  embodied  the  true  in 
idea.  We  mean  not  to  say  that  the  Grecian  idea 
of  beauty  in  itself  was  not  a  true  idea;  or  that 
their  idea  of  strength,  of  majesty,  of  intellect,  and 
power  were  not  in  themselves  true;  and  so  far  as 
the  Greek  sculptors  strove  to  personify  these  their 
art  was  the  handmaiden  of  truth.  But  when  they 
aspired  to  chisel  in  marble,  or  to  mold  in  brass, 
divine  beauty,  divine  strength,  divine  majesty,  and 
divine  intellect,  the  attempt  was  a  revolt  against 
truth.  The  statue  of  a  Jupiter  or  an  Apollo,  as  it 
came  from  a  Greek  studio,  would  be  exactly  true  to 
the  rules  of  art;  but  to  the  idea  of  art  it  could  not 
be  true,  if  our  interpretation  of  that  idea  is  cor- 
rect. For  what  does  that  statue  actually  represent? 
Certainly  not  the  divine;  since  not  in  marble,  or 
brass,  or  ivory,  can  even  a  Phidias  succeed  in  per- 
sonating Godhead.  And  if  that  statue  does  not 
truly  exhibit  the  divine,  so  neither  does  it  exhibit 
the  human;  for  exceeding  nature,  by  its  attempt 
to  rise  to  the  supernatural,  it  is  too  imaginatively 
grand  to  be  the  image  of  a  man.     The  idea  itself 


INTRODUCTORY.  237 

of  tlie  divine  personated  in  the  human  is  a  true 
one  and  as  we  know  was  realized  in  the  person  of 
incarnate  God;  but  the  idea  is  falsified  in  the  mar- 
ble or  the  brass  of  the  Grecian  sculptors. 

Hence  with  our  profound  admiration  of  the  lit- 
erature and  the  arts  of  Greece  there  mingles  a 
strong  conviction  that  had  this  land  possessed  the 
Bible,  these  in  their  tendency  would  have  been 
more  elevating;  in  their  applications  more  benefi- 
cial; in  their  conception  more  pure;  and  even  in 
their  forms  still  more  perfect. 

Having  drawn  an  illustration  from  confessedly 
the  most  polished  nation  of  classic  antiquity,  I  shall 
now  select  China,  as  out  of  sight  the  best  specimen 
of  civilized  paganism  in  these  modern  times.  Here 
are  a  people  without  the  Bible,  who  yet  can  boast 
a  literature  rich  in  works  of  every  description,  both 
in  prose  and  verse;  and  among  whom,  if  not  the 
fine  arts,  at  least  art,  manufactures,  have  been  car- 
ried to  a  high  j)itch;  and  to  whom  priority  of  dis- 
covery seems  of  right  to  belong  with  regard  to 
more  than  one  of  the  great  modern  inventions 
which  were  at  first  reputed  European.  Again, 
therefore,  we  are  reminded  that  it  would  be  histor- 
ically untrue  to  assert  that  the  fostering  influences 
of  revelation  are  essential  to  the  growth  of  litera- 
ture and  the  arts;  for  as  before  we  found  these  a 
well-foliaged  and  fruitful  tree  in  the  West,  so  now 
in  "the  far  East  we  also  find  them  bourgeoned  and 
blossoming  ere  yet  a  ray  of  Christianity  has  pene- 


238    LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

trated  the  superstitions  of  paganism.  But  do  we 
find  no  blemishing  characteristic  in  Chinese  civiliza- 
tion, which  a  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures  might 
have  prevented?  Ov-er  against  the  singular  invent- 
iveness of  the  Chinese  set  this  fact — that  they 
rarely,  if  ever,  improve  upon  their  inventions;  but 
soon  as  a  discovery  is  made  by  them  thus  it  re- 
mains stereotyped.  And  the  reason  of  this  is  doubt- 
less to  be  found  in  their  isolation;  for,  lying  her- 
metically sealed  up  within  their  own  walls,  they 
own  to  no  filiation  with  the  brotherhood  of  nations; 
but  dwell  alone,  a  people  proudly,  selfishly,  unso- 
cially  separate  from  their  human  kin.  Hence  they 
have  become  filled  with  the  conceit  of  national  per- 
fectibility, which  could  not  fail  to  put  an  arrest  on 
their  national  progress.  Now  we  need  scarcely  add 
that  had  China  been  a  Bible  land,  this  notion  of 
perfectibility  could  never  have  gained  ground,  nor 
this  position  of  isolation  have  been  persisted  in. 
Hence,  if  instead  of  the  books  of  Confucius,  the 
Chinese  had  received  the  books  of  Moses  and  the 
prophets,  what  a  noble  civilization  would  theirs  by 
this  time  have  been ! 

Here  I  can  imagine  the  infidel  to  say:  "You 
have  glanced  at  nations  which  were  without  the 
Bible;  I  now  turn  to  a  nation  which  alone  possessed 
it  for  centuries.  And  what  do  I  find  ?  A  wretched 
people,  of  a  low  civilization,  ever  ignorant  and 
vulgar,  strangers  alike  tp  letters  and  the  arts."  To 
this  scornful  satire   of  the  brilliant  skeptic— for  I 


INTRODUCTORY.  239 

have  given  in  substance  the  words  of  Voltaire — an 
eloquent  writer  has  replied:  ''Does  it  become  you, 
a  writer  of  the  eighteenth  century,  to  charge  the 
ancient  Hebrews  with  ignorance?  A  people  who, 
while  your  barbarian  ancestors,  while  even  the 
Greeks  and  Latins,  wandering  in  the  woods,  could 
scarcely  procure  for  themselves  clothing  and  a  set- 
tled subsistence,  already  possessed  all  arts  of  neces- 
sity, and  some  of  mere  pleasure ;  who  not  only  knew 
how  to  feed  and  rear  cattle,  till  the  earth,  work 
upon  wood,  stone,  and  metals,  weave  cloth,  dye 
wool,  embroider  stuffs,  polish  and  engrave  on  pre- 
cious stones;  but  even  then  adding  to  manual  arts 
those  of  taste  and  refinement,  surveyed  land^  ap- 
pointed their  festivals  according  to  the  motions  of 
the  heavenly  bodies,  and  ennobled  their  solemnities 
by  the  pomp  of  ceremonies,  by  the  sound  of  instru- 
ments, music,  and  dancing;  who  even  then  commit- 
ted to  writing  the  history  of  the  origin  of  the  world, 
that  of  their  own  nation,  and  their  ancestors;  who 
had  poetry  and  writers  skilled  in  all  the  sciences 
then  known,  great  and  brave  commanders,  a  pure 
worship,  just  laws,  a  wise  form  of  government;  in 
short,  this  was  the  only  one  of  all  ancient  nations 
that  has  left  us  authentic  monuments  of  genius  and 
of  literature.  Can  this  nation  be  justly  charged 
with  ignorance  and  inurbanity?"  To  the  same 
eficct,  I  might  quote  from  Dr.  Edersheim's  "His- 
tory of  the  Jewish  Nation."  His  chapters  in  which 
he  describes  the  social  condition,  customs,  and  cul- 


240    LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

ture  of  the  Jews,  give  one  a  very  high  idea  of 
Hebrew  civilization.  As  has  justly  been  remarked, 
there  is  no  surer  sign  of  a  high  civilization  than  a 
great  division  of  labor  and  a  complication  of  trades. 
Take  then  the  following  passage:  ''Among  the 
craftsmen  we  find  artificers  in  wood  and  all  kinds 
of  metal,  the  precious  metals  being  fused  with  lead 
or  some  of  the  alkalies;  tent-makers,  masons,  tan- 
ners, tailors,  shoemakers,  jewelers,  coach-builders, 
etc.,  who  busily  and  successfully  plied  their  trades, 
although  with  tools  much  inferior  to  those  now  in 
use.  The  potters  and  glass-workers  produced  flat 
and  deep  plates,  cups,  looking-glasses,  spoons,  tum- 
blers— holes  in  which  were  covered  with  pitch  or 
tin — bottles,  and  smelling-bottles  which  were  filled 
with  scented  oil.  Some,  as  tailors  and  copy-writers, 
would  go  about  to  procure  work,  or  do  it  in  the 
houses  of  their  customers.  Hats,  caps,  shirts,  nap- 
kins, towels,  pocket-handkerchiefs,  vails,  and  many 
other  articles  which  we  could  scarcely  have  ex- 
pected to  find  in  Palestine,  seem  to  have  been  in 
common  use.  The  washers  were  properly  fullers, 
who  first  cleaned  the  clothes  with  water  and  then 
took  out  the  stains  by  various  chemical  agents,  such 
as  alum,  chalk,  potash,  etc.  Dyeing  and  orna- 
mental work  of  various  kinds,  whether  with  the 
brush,  the  needle,  or  in  wood,  ivory,  stucco,  and 
metal,  were  also  known  and  practiced." 


THE   PIONEER  OF   CIVILIZATION.  241 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE  BIBLE  HAS  BEEN  THE  PIONEER  OF  LITERATURE 
AND  THE  ARTS. 

The  failure  of  modern  missions  was  confidently 
predicted  by  a  class  of  utilitarian  philanthropists, 
who  maintained  that  the  natural  order  was  first 
to  civilize,  and  then  to  Christianize  the  heathen. 
These  reasoned  thus:  Since  it  is  art  and  science, 
not  religion,  which  teach  men  to  weave  cloth,  to 
cultivate  the  fields,  and  build  houses;  therefore, 
first  get  the  naked  savage,  who  feeds  on  roots  and 
shell-fish,  and  burrows  in  wretched  cave-huts,  to 
clothe  himself,  to  raise  crops,  and  erect  decent  hab- 
itations; and  when  you  have  thus  lifted  him  out  of 
the  physical  slough  of  savagism  up  to  near  the  level 
of  a  human  being,  he  will  be  more  disposed,  as  well 
as  better  fitted,  to  listen  to  the  lessons  of  theology. 
Now,  in  theory  this  project  looked  excellently  well; 
but  when  tried — for  the  utilitarians  did  give  it  a 
trial — it  turned  out  a  failure.  The  savage  could 
not  be  got  to  learn  the  arts  first  and  Christianity 
afterward.  But  when  the  experiment  was  re- 
versed— Christianity  being  allowed  to  forerun,  in- 
stead of  being  made  to  follow  the  arts,  or  perhaps, 
rather,  the  two  being  introduced  simultaneously — 

the  labors  of  our  missionaries  were  crowned  with 

21 


242    LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OP  THE  BIBLE. 

success.  And  now  a  large  induction  of  instances, 
spread  over  an  immense  geographical  area,  and 
including  almost  every  known  diversity  of  the 
species,  warrants  us  to  proclaim  it  as  a  fact  exper- 
imentally proved  that  the  Bible,  and  it  alone,  can 
prepare  the  savage  for  being  civilized;  that,  more 
than  all  sciences,  all  arts,  or  all  literatures,  it  has  a 
dynamical  moral  power  to  raise  the  human  mind 
from  the  abysmal  depths  of  barbarism;  that,  while 
in  its  rear,  acting  as  a  reserve  force,  these  accom- 
plish not  a  little,  it  only  can  lead  the  van  in  the 
march  of  the  world's  civilization. 

When  a  piece  of  stratified  rock  is  subjected  to  the 
wheel  of  the  lapidary,  the  fossil  configurations  are 
brought  out  on  its  polished  surface  as  if  they  were 
so  many  fine  natural  etchings;  but  it  is  a  piece  of 
rock  still,  and  these  exquisite  lineations  are  but  the 
epitaphs  pf  dead  animals,  lettered  with  their  own 
remains.  Even  so  art,  with  its  civilization,  might 
perhaps  polish  the  hard  surface  of  heathendom,  and 
bring  out  some  hidden  traces  of  our  better  human- 
ity in  these  human  fossils ;  but  what  was  to  breathe 
life  into  them?  not  art,  not  science,  not  civilization, 
but  Christianity  alone  could  do  this.  Its  only  is  tho 
vivifying  breath,  which,  when  it  falls  warm  on  thosd 
hearts  which  had  been  fossilized  into  stone,  pene- 
trates, softens,  resuscitates  them,  makes  them  hearta 
of  flesh — hearts  which  beat  now  with  a  true  natural 
life — which  may  yet  beat  with  a  life  which  is  spir- 
itual and  divine. 


THE   PIONEER  OF  CIVILIZATION.  243 

Already  has  Christianity  achieved  many  benig- 
nant triumphs  on  the  stubborn  fields  of  heathen- 
dom. It  has  confronted  the  cannibal  when,  at  his 
horrid  feasts,  he  was  quaffing  human  blood,  and  has 
made  him  loathe  the  ensanguined  cup;  it  has  fol- 
lowed the  hunter  of  the  woods — then  as  untamed, 
apparently  as  untamable,  as  the  wild  beasts  he 
chased — and  has  led  him  back,  gentle  as  a  child,  to 
sit  at  the  feet  of  his  spiritual  teachers ;  it  found  the 
temple-fires  of  paganism  smoking  with  detestable 
sacrifices,  its  altars  smeared  with  the  mingled  blood 
of  animals  and  human  beings,  its  idol- gods  images 
hideous  to  look  on,  and  often  symbolic  of  notions 
still  more  hideous  to  think  of:  these  fires  it  has  ex- 
tinguished, these  altars  overturned,  and  these  idols 
broken  in  pieces;  it  has  abolished  infanticide,  it  has 
snatched  the  aged  imbecile  from  a  watery  grave, 
and  rescued  the  living  widow  from  the  funeral  pj^re 
on  which  she  was  about  to  be  consumed  with  the 
dead  body  of  her  husband;  it  has  converted  the 
tomahawk  into  the  woodman's  ax,  and  the  weapons 
of  barbaric  warfare  into  the  implements  of  hus- 
bandry; smiling  villages  have  sprung  up  on  the 
sites  of  miserable  encampments;  the  cornucopia  of 
industry  has  poured  out  its  bounteous  stores,  where 
before  indolence  had  pined  with  its  empty  horn ;  the 
sentiments  of  civilized  have  been  ingrafted  on  the 
instincts  of  nomadic  life,  thus  forming  a  character 
at  once  robust  and  refined;  alien  races  have  been 
affiliated,  hostile  tribes  united  in  amity;   the  girdle 


244   LITERARY  ACUIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

of  love  is  being  stretched  round  the  world,  a  cinct- 
ure which  shall  bind  together  its  scattered  sons  and 
daughters  into  one  universal  brotherhood.  Such 
have  been  the  early  fruits,  the  first  beginnings  of 
Christianity.  But  the  end  is  not  yet.  Time  must 
be  allowed  it  to  complete  its  triumphs;  for  while  it 
has  done  marvels,  we  do  not  pretend  to  say  that  it 
will  work  miracles;  or  that  its  operations  can  coun- 
tervail the  great  law  of  social  progress.  And  it  is 
well  known  what  that  law  is — that  civilization  in 
any,  but  more  especially  in  barbarous  lands,  is  of 
slow  growth,  being  the  aggregate  of  small  incre- 
ments, like  the  annual  wood-circles  of  our  exogen- 
ous trees. 

We,  the  cultured  sons  of  Britain,  whose  own 
forefathers  once  wandered,  half-naked  savages,  in 
the  woods,  and  where,  but  for  Christianity,  we, 
their  children,  might  be  wandering  now,  can  point 
to  our  mighty  engines  of  manufacture — to  our  im- 
mense magazines  of  trade — to  our  spreading  sails, 
which  carry  the  produce  of  these  engines  and  the 
stores  of  these  magazines  to  the  ends  of  the  earth; 
we  can  also  point  to  our  venerable  colleges  of  aca- 
demic learning — to  our  schools  of  modern  science — 
to  our  magnificent  galleries  of  art;  we  can  also 
point  to  our  cathedrals  and  necropolises,  where  the 
ashes  of  the  illustrious  dead  repose,  and  to  the 
brilliant  names  of  the  illustrious  living — yet  let  us 
not  think  to  sneer  at  the  rude  architecture,  the 
infant    sciences,   or   the    simple    arts  of   the   sable 


THE   PIONEER  OF   CIVILIZATION.  245 

islanders  of  the  Pacific;  for  on  these  coral  strands 
Christianity  has  already  laid  the  foundation  of 
future  nations,  which  may  rise  but  slowly,  as  our 
own  great  nation  rose,  or  even  as  slowly  as  the 
reefs  they  now  inhabit  were  reared  by  the  tiny 
masons  of  the  deep,  but  which  some  future  century 
shall  yet  see  taking  rank  with  those  colonial  worlds 
which  our  own  emigrant  countrymen  are  founding 
on  the  wide  plains  of  Polynesia. 

The  Bible  is  already  a  far-traveled  book ;  and  let 
this  fact  be  specially  noted,  that,  wherever  it  goes, 
it  soon  learns  to  speak  the  language  of  the  people. 
The  miracle  of  Pentecost  in  apostolic  history,  which 
it  records,  might  be  said  to  be  repeated  in  its  own. 
For,  as  these  Parthians  and  Medes,  Elamites  and 
the  dwellers  in  Mesopotamia,  and  in  Judea,  and 
Cappadocia,  in  Pontus  and  Asia,  Phrygia  and  Pam- 
phylia,  in  Egypt,  and  in  the  parts  of  Lybia  about 
Gyrene,  and  strangers  of  Eome,  Jews  and  prose- 
lytes, Cretes  and  Arabians,  were  amazed  to  hear 
the  apostles  speak  their  diverse  vernaculars;  so 
might  the  scattered  tribes  of  more  distant  regions 
be  amazed  to  hear  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  read  in 
their  multiform  dialects.  Of  it,  as  of  the  apostles, 
literally  might  it  be  said,  that  it  is  filled  with  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  begins  to  speak  with  other  tongues 
as  the  Spirit  giveth  it  utterance.  Already  it  has 
been  translated  into  upward  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  languages;  so  that  it  may  be  said  to  have 
nearly  mastered  all  the  dialects  of  the  earth.     And 


246   LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

is  not  this  of  itself  a  splendid  contribution  to  uni- 
versal literature,  that  the  greatest  classic  of  an- 
tiquity— for  such  we  hold  the  Bible  to  be — instead 
of  being  locked  up  in  the  dead  languages,  is  now 
thrown  open,  in  its  living  vernaculars,  to  the  wide 
world?  We  have  remarked  of  nations  which  had 
not  the  inventive  genius  to  originate  a  purely-native 
literature,  how  rapidly  they  advanced  when  aided 
by  an  imported  literature.  And  if  one  may  augur 
from  historic  parallels,  it  omens  happily  for  the 
future  literature  of  pagan  lands,  that  already  they 
possess  the  rich  literature  of  Palestine.  Nor  ought 
it  to  be  overlooked  here  the  immense  contribution 
which  the  translation  of  the  Bible  has  been  the 
means  of  making  to  comparative  philology;  since 
it  has  procured  for  so  many  languages  that,  of 
which  so  long  as  a  language  is  destitute,  it  never 
can  have  a  literature — a  grammar  and  vocabulary. 
And  here,  again,  the  parallels  in  history  present 
a  happy  augury.  For,  since  the  first  book  ever 
printed  was  the  Bible,  and  the  art  of  printing  thus 
inaugurated  has  had  such  a  splendid  success,  we 
can  not  anticipate  otherwise  than  hopefully  for  the 
incipient  literature  of  recently-Christianized  lands, 
seeing  the  first  book  translated  into  and  printed  in 
their  language  is  the  Bible. 

Civilization  might  be  said  to  be  a  problem  in  the 
resolution  of  moral  forces;  and  will  prove  sound 
and  lasting  according  as  these  are  rightly  balanced. 
The  two  chief  forces  which  have  to  be  worked  in 


THE   PIONEER  OF   CIVILIZATION.  247 

combination  are  the  social  and  the  individual;  in 
other  words,  the  powers  and  prerogatives  of  society 
in  the  aggregate  and  the  liberty  of  its  several 
members.  When  the  former  is  in  excess,  you  have 
tyranny;  when  the  latter,  anarchy.  But  when  the 
two  are  in  their  just  proportions,  you  have  legisla- 
tion without  oppression  in  the  State,  and  liberty 
without  lawlessness  in  the  citizen.  It  is  from  hav- 
ing failed  to  work  out  these  opposite  forces  into  a 
stable  resultant  that  so  many  of  the  ancient  civil- 
izations proved  unstable  and  unlasting.  But  let  us 
see  how  admirably  these  are  balanced  in  the  Scrip- 
tures ! 

First,  we  have  the  social  quantity  in  the  equation 
of  civilization  given  in  its  full  value.  For  in  no 
book  is  sociology  laid  on  so  deep  and  broad  a  foun- 
dation. The  idea  of  the  unity  of  the  race,  and  the 
correlated  ideas  of  universal  brotherhood  and  the 
filiation  of  the  nations,  are  now  familiar  to  us. 
But  how  little  were  they  realized,  or  rather  were 
not  thought  of  at  all,  till  the  Bible  proclaimed 
them!  And  it  is  not  as  a  theory  or  a  poetic  senti- 
ment, but  as  a  historical  fact,  the  Bible  proclaims 
"the  whole  world  kin."  It  establishes  the  universal 
brotherhood  by  tracing  it  back  to  a  common  an- 
cestry. ''God  has  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of 
men  for  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth."  The 
very  names  of  the  primal  parents,  and  of  the  first- 
born brothers  of  the  race  are  given.  We  are  intro- 
duced   to   the   original    household,  from  which,   by 


248    LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

unbroken  lineage,  the  great  human  family  has  de- 
scended. Thus  the  problem  of  civilization  is  at 
once  pointed  toward  its  true  solution;  the  great 
truth  to  be  practically  wrought  out  being  the  rec- 
ognition of  a  community  of  interest  and  of  rights, 
seeing  there  is  a  community  of  blood  and  lineage 
among  all  the  nations  of  the  earth.  The  question 
of  human  progress  is  thus  built  upon  a  foundation 
which  lies  deep  as  the  origin  of  the  race.  It  be- 
comes as  it  were  a  household  question,  and  is 
enshrined  in  all  the  sacredness  we  associate  with 
the  family  circle.  And,  doubtless,  though  it  will 
take  time,  the  great  problem  shall  ultimately  be 
solved  in  the  way  which  the  Bible  indicates;  and 
which,  more  than  all  other  books,  it  has  helped  to 
accelerate. 

Then,  secondly,  the  other  main  quantity  in  the 
equation,  namely,  the  individual,  is  also  fully  given. 
Nowhere  else  is  the  liberty  of  personal  conscience  so 
fenced  round  with  lofty  sanctions,  or  the  doctrine 
of  personal  responsibility  so  conspicuously  enforced. 
Individual  man  is  never  represented  as  a  stray  waif 
upon  the  waters,  to  be  tossed  hither  and  thither 
without  voluntaiy  motion,  the  sport  of  circum- 
stance. He  is  never  spoken  of  as  a  drop  in  the 
ocean,  which  loses  all  individuality,  absorbed  and 
lost  sight  of,  and  carried,  without  its  own  choice, 
whithersoever  the  tide  makes  for  any  shore.  But 
individual  man  is  recognized  in  the  distinct  and  in- 
destructible prerogatives  of  his  personal  being.     He 


THE   PIONEER  OF   CIVILIZATION.  249 

is  made  to  stand  forth  as  having  rights  which  are 
inalienable,  and  owing  duties  which  can  not  be 
transferred.  He  is  to  be  recognized  by  his  fellow- 
men,  and  to  God  is  directly  responsible.  The  prob- 
lem of  civilization,  therefore,  as  set  forth  in  the 
Scriptures,  is  not  a  vague  generalization;  for  if  to 
be  worked  out  upon  the  masses,  it  operates  also 
upon  the  individual  man.  It  deals  not  merely  with 
the  sum  total,  but  it  has  equal  regard  to  each  sepa- 
rate unit  which  goes  to  swell  it. 

Here  then  we  have  the  two  forces — the  social  and 
the  individual — in  their  just  combination;  and  as 
men  shall  learn  thus  to  combine  them  in  their 
efforts  to  civilize  the  race,  so  shall  the  civilization 
they  effect  prove  permanent  and  true. 

It  needs  not  that  we  declare  how  emphatically 
Christianity  denounces  slavery — setting  the  brand 
of  its  utmost  reprobation  on  that  unnatural  traffic 
which  buys  and  sells  human  beings  as  so  many 
cattle  in  the  market-place;  or  how,  with  equal 
emphasis,  the  Gospel  denounces  aggressive  war — its 
benign  spirit  shuddering  at  the  spectacle  of  brother 
shedding  brother's  blood  in  wholesale  slaughter, 
that  ambition  may  clutch  a  crown,  or  avarice  in- 
crease its  robberies,  or  revenge  gloat  its  sanguinary 
ire.  Had  Christianity  its  full  sway,  the  shackles 
would  rust  unworn,  and  the  sword  would  be  beat 
into  the  plowshare. 

There  is  one  feature  in  the  problem  of  sociology, 
as  presented  in  the  Bible,  which  deserves  a  separate 


250        LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE  BIBLE. 

notice — I  mean  the  place  which  it  asserts  for 
woman.  Created  to  be  the  companion  of  man,  how 
often  she  has  been  made  his  slave,  the  instrument 
of  his  passions,  the  plaything  of  his  idle  hours! 
This  every-where  among  savage  tribes  has  been  lit- 
erally the  case,  and  even  among  nations  which  were 
civilized,  if  pagan,  woman  rarely  had  assigned  to 
her  her  due  place.  This  was  but  another  phase  of 
that  ferocity  which  has  cursed  the  earth  by  its 
cruelties  in  war — the  stronger  trampling  on  the 
weaker.  But  there  was  this  mighty  difference — 
that  whereas  a  feeble  tribe  might  by  conquest  be 
made  harmless,  the  influence  of  woman  could  not  be 
destroyed.  There  belongs  to  her,  in  each  several 
relation,  as  sister,  wife,  mother,  a  vast  social  power 
for  good  or  evil,  of  which  she  can  not  be  deprived. 
If  crushed,  downtrodden,  and  despised  by  an  un- 
christian civilization,  woman,  alas!  had  her  too 
ample  revenge  in  the  baneful  influences,  which, 
from  man's  fault  and  her  own  sad  misfortune,  went^ 
forth  from  her  as  by  a  law  of  retribution  to  avenge 
her  on  her  tyrants.  Her  womanly  nature,  which 
would  have  shed  its  sweet  and  softening  influences 
on  society,  could  not  be  dried  up,  but  did,  without 
her  meaning  it,  give  forth  the  soured  and  bitter  in- 
fluences which  oppression,  to  its  own  just  punish- 
ment, wrung  out  from  her.  Never  therefore  could 
there  be  a  true  civilization  where  woman  was  not 
assigned  her  proper  place.  But  when  this  justice  is 
done  to  her,  what  a  rich   reward  she  bestows  on 


THE  PIONEER  OF   CIVILIZATION.  251 

man!  It  is  hers  tlieii  to  humanize  him  by  the  gen- 
tler charities;  to  ingraft,  with  her  delicate  female 
touch,  the  softer  graces  upon  the  undergrowths  of 
his  nature;  to  distill  round  the  deep  roots  of  his 
being  a  secret  subtile  balm  of  all  purest  passions, 
which,  when  she  has  roused  into  their  strength, 
she  then  softens  without  enervating  them.  It  is 
woman's  mission  in  the  quiet  privacies  of  home  to 
feed  the  center-founts  of  society  with  those  human- 
izing influences  which  distill  as  naturally  from  her 
as  its  balm  from  the  tree  or  their  odor  from  the 
flowers.  But  why  crush  the  exuding  branch,  or 
why  tread  down  the  exhaling  flower?  The  more 
tenderly  they  are  nurtured  the  richer  a  balm,  the 
more  fragrant  an  aroma  will  they  yield.  And  so 
woman,  if  herself  the  nursling  of  tenderness,  will 
the  more  tenderly  minister. 

Now,  in  the  Scriptures  woman  has  assigned  to 
her  her  proper  place;  the  amenities  of  her  sex  are 
vindicated,  her  mission  is  defined,  her  ministrations 
are  allowed  and  acknowledged.  She  is  placed  at 
man's  side,  his  companion,  his  friend,  his  equal,  and 
helpmeet  for  him.  Weaker  in  physical  frame,  she 
is  admonished  to  cling  to  him  for  support;  of  intel- 
lectual energies  less  vigorous  than  his,  she  is  taught 
to  make  him  her  counselor;  but  superior  to  man  in 
the  finer  and  more  delicate  sentiments  of  their  com- 
mon nature,  he  must  seek  toward  her,  unless  he 
would  become  stern  in  his  strength,  and  his  virile 
hardihood  degenerate  into  harshness. 


252    LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

We  know  nothing  finer  in  the  whole  range  of 
literature  than  are  some  of  the  exhibitions  of  female 
character  which  are  to  be  met  with  in  the  Scripture 
histories.  As  loving  wife  and  devoted  mother,  she 
is  seen  shedding  a  hallowed  loveliness  around  the 
household.  The  sires  and  sons  of  Israel,  so  noble 
patriots,  heroes  of  dauntless  bravery,  men  of  action 
and  of  metal,  in  Israel's  best  days,  went  forth  from 
homes  where  woman's  worth  was  known,  and 
woman's  power  admitted.  It  was  she,  as  wife  or 
mother,  who  made  these  sires  and  sons  of  Israel  the 
men  they  proved  themselves  to  be.  But  not  only 
in  the  privacy  of  home  is  the  Hebrew  woman  to  be 
seen.  She  could  step  forth  without  forgetting  her 
womanly  modesty,  in  these  stirring  times,  equal  to 
deeds  of  valor  which  the  veterans  of  the  nation 
might  have  envied.  She  too  was  poetess,  priestess, 
prophetess. 

But  above  and  beyond  all,  Christianity  has  enno- 
bled woman  as  the  mother  of  the  Savior  of  man- 
kind. If  paradise  has  its  melancholy  shadows,  in 
the  gloom  of  which  woman  stands  as  the  first  trans- 
gressor, how  gloriously  are  these  shadows  dispelled 
at  Bethlehem.  The  nativity  shines  with  a  double 
luster  for  woman;  the  birth-hour  of  hope  to  her 
children,  it  was  also  the  birth- hour  of  her  own  true 
dignity,  henceforth  to  be  acknowledged,  wherever 
the  Gospel  should  proclaim  her,  to  be  the  mother 
of  the  Savior;  and  now  is  her  benign  influence 
being  felt,  as  in  pagan  lands  it  never  was,  or  indeed 


TUE   PIONEER   OF   CIVILIZATION.  253 

could  be,  in  the  great  work  of  universal  civiliza- 
tion. 

In  estimating  the  contributions  which  Christianity 
has  made  toward  a  solution  of  the  social  problem,  it 
deserves  to  be  specially  noted,  that  for  it  was  re- 
served the  inaugural  act  of  public  charity  in  the 
spirit  of  charity.  With  the  poor,  as  such,  heathen- 
ism did  not  trouble  itself.  The  public  largesses  of 
corn  which  were  made  to  the  humbler  citizens  of 
Eome  might  seem  to  contradict  this  statement;  but 
in  point  of  fact  they  do  not,  for  there  was  no  ves- 
tige of  charity  in  the  Roman  distributions  of  grain. 
''These  distributions,"  says  De  Quincey,  "moved 
upon  the  same  impulse  as  the  sportulce  of  the  great 
oligarchic  houses,  and  the  donatives  of  princely  offi- 
cers to  their  victorious  soldiery  upon  great  anni- 
versaries, or  upon  accessions  to  the  throne,  or  upon 
adoptions  of  successors,  etc.  All  were  political, 
oftentimes  rolling  through  the  narrowest  grooves  of 
intrigue,  and  so  far  from  contemplating  any  col- 
lateral or  secondary  purpose  of  charity,  that  the 
most  earnest  inquiry  on  such  occasions  was  to  find 
pretexts  for  excluding  men  from  the  benefit  of  the 
bounty.  The  primary  thought  was,  who  should  not 
be  admitted  to  participate  in  the  dole;  and  at  any 
rate,  none  were  admitted  but  citizens  in  the  most 
rigorous  and  the  narrowest  sense."  Public  charity, 
the  charity  that  grows  out  of  tender  and  apprehen- 
sive sj^mpathy  with  human  sufferings,  the  charity 
that  makes  eleemosynary  contributions  to  the  poor 


254   LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

a  solemn  institution  as  their  absolute  right  under 
the  Christian  law,  the  charity  that  proclaims  it  a 
paramount  duty  for  all  who  have  any  available 
power,  whether  these  be  a  community  or  individual 
members  thereof,  to  listen  to  poverty  pleading  its 
pangs  day  and  night  before  God  and  man — this 
public  charity  paganism  knew  nothing  of;  Chris- 
tianity was  the  first  to  proclaim  it,  and  a  Christian 
emperor,  Constantine,  was  the  first  to  give  to  it 
practical  effect.  It  was  he,  the  first  Christian 
Csesar,  who  in  testimony  of  that  obligation  which 
Christianity  had  laid  on  princes  and  their  peoples, 
founded  the  first  system  of  relief  for  pauperism. 
^'The  poor  ye  will  always  have  with  you."  These 
words  of  the  Divine  Founder  of  Christianity  were 
now  accepted  as  at  once  a  true  prediction  and  an 
authoritative  appeal. 

"What  Christianity,  since  the  times  of  Constan- 
tine, has  done  for  the  poor,  and  how  much  it  has 
contributed  if  not  to  remove  poverty  out  of  the 
land — which  is  only  to  be  thought  of  in  the  dreams 
of  the  visionary — at  any  rate  to  mitigate  its  suffer- 
ings, is  patent  to  any  one  who  will  read  the  annals 
of  philanthropy. 

There  is  still  one  other  observation  I  would  add, 
in  speaking  of  Christianity  in  connection  with  civil- 
ization, or  the  true  solution  of  the  great  social  prob- 
lem. It  alone,  of  all  religious  systems,  has  shown 
itself  to  possess  the  power  to  work  in  cooperation 
with  time  and  progress,  and  to  adapt  itself  to  the 


THE   PIONEER  OP   CRTLIZATION.  255 

endless  variations  of  epochs  and  locality.  Systems 
there  have  been  which  could  grapple  with  one  con- 
dition of  society,  with  one  set  of  feelings,  and  one 
system  of  ideas,  but  when  there  came  a  change,  and 
new  elements  had  to  be  dealt  with,  these  systems, 
having  no  power  of  plastic  self-accommodation,  be- 
came as  a  bed  on  which  a  man  can  not  stretch 
himself;  there  was  in  them  neither  the  length  nor 
the  breadth  required  by  these  new  aspects  of  soci- 
ety, and  of  these  new  necessities  of  man.  But 
Christianity  has  in  it  an  infinite  flexibility;  it 
transfers  itself,  without  needing  to  be  stretched 
as  a  garment  which  has  shrunk,  from  climate  to 
climate,  from  land  to  land,  from  century  to  century, 
infolding  within  its  endless  adaptations  the  social 
problem,  no  matter  where,  when,  or  under  what 
conditions,  it  is  being  solved. 


256        LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE  BIBLE  THE  PROMOTER  OF  LITERATURE  AND  THE 
ARTS— MODERN  POETRY. 

There  are  influences  with  power  in  them  suffi- 
cient to  initiate  a  movement,  but  which  are  not 
capable  of  consummating  it.  They  give  the  first 
impulse,  and  then  are  left  behind  by  that  which 
themselves  set  in  motion.  This  is  abundantly  illus- 
trated in  the  history  of  science,  philosophy,  and 
literature.  For  many  a  book  which  exerted  no 
small  motive  influence  on  the  age  when  it  first 
appeared,  and  perhaps  on  the  age  which  succeeded, 
became  at  length  antiquated,  having  fallen  quite 
behind  the  very  progress  which  in  large  measure 
might  be  traced  to  itself.  Indeed  the  number  of 
the  books  is  exceedingly  few,  of  which  it  could  be 
said  that  they  both  commenced  and  consummated 
any  great  movement.  Extremely  few,  at  the  most 
not  over  two  or  three,  which,  having  served  as  a 
primer  to  the  infancy  of  human  thought,  are  still 
a  sufficient  "principia"  for  its  manhood.  Among 
these  very  few  books  the  Bible  stands  out  preemi- 
nent. Any  other  on  the  short  but  shining  list  is 
"secundus  magno  intervallo."  The  date  of  centu- 
ries, but  not  the  decay  of  age  is  upon  it.     The  first 


MODERN   POETRY.  267 

to  lead  forth  the  human  mind  in  the  long  quest 
after  truth,  it  still  keeps  in  the  vanguard.  Its 
vocation  to  man,  as  the  child  of  immortali^,  is  to 
press  onward.  Its  own  motto,  woven  as  with  lines 
of  light  on  its  every  page,  is  meliora.  Striking 
back  to  the  eldest  antiquity  of  our  planet's  history, 
it  has  stretched  forward  to  its  still  uncircled  peri- 
ods; and  as  it  moved  on  the  past,  so  will  it  move  on 
the  future;  for  what  it  pioneers  it  promotes,  what 
it  commences  it  consummates.  In  sweeping  the  de- 
scending segment  of  its  arc  of  motion,  the  ball  of  a 
pendulum  acquires  a  momentum  which  carries  it  up 
an  almost  isometrical  ascending  segment;  and  so 
might  we  say  it  is  likely  to  be  the  case  with  the 
Bible.  It  has  been  gathering  a  momentum  or  mo- 
tive power  in  sweeping  down  the  curve  of  the  past, 
which  will  carry  it  forward  through  an  equal  curve 
in  the  future,  if  the  earth  last  so  long. 

I  am  now  to  indicate  some  of  the  services  which 
the  Bible  has  rendered  toward  the  advancement  of 
the  higher  arts  and  literature.  But  how  may  I 
hope  adequately  to  discourse  my  theme?  For  were 
modern  poetry  to  indite  a  thanksgiving  hymn;  and 
modern  painting  to  hang  up  a  commemorative  pic- 
ture; and  modern  sculpture  to  erect  a  memorial 
pillar;  and  modern  music  to  compose  an  oratorio; 
and  modern  literature  to  write  a  eulogy,  in  ac- 
knowledgment of  the  services  which  the  Bible  has 
rendered  to  each  of  them ;  it  would  require  the  muse 
of  a  Milton  to  indite  the  hymn,  the  pencil  of  an 


258    LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

Angelo  to  paint  the  picture,  the  chisel  of  a  Canova 
to  sculpture  the  pillar,  the  symphonies  of  a  Handel 
to  swell  the  oratorio,  and  the  pen  of  an  Addison  to 
write  the  eulogy. 

Still,  however  inadequately,  my  subject  requires 
of  me  that  I  shall  essay  the  task  of  pointing  out 
what  services,  not  merely  now  as  their  pioneer,  but 
as  their  promoter,  the  Bible  has  rendered  to  letters 
and  the  arts  in  the  civilized  nations  of  modern 
Europe.  There  will  have  to  pass  in  review  before 
us,  poetry,  painting,  sculpture,  music,  architecture, 
and  general  literature ;  for  by  each  of  these  has  this 
marvelous  book  made  its  influence  to  be  felt.  We 
shall  find  that  it  has  breathed  into  them  a  new  life 
from  its  own  undying  vitality ;  that  it  has  supplied 
them  with  materials  out  of  its  own  exhaustless 
stores;  that  mixing  as  it  were  its  own  nurturing 
influences  at  their  very  roots,  to  it  mainly  is  owing, 
even  when  the  connection  has  ceased  to  be  percep- 
tible, that  their  branches  have  so  widely  burgeoned, 
blossomed,  and  borne  fruit. 

To  the  Bible  modern  poetry  is  under  many  obli- 
gations. 

(1.)  It  has  supplied  it  with  subjects  of  song. 

For  if  it  is  asked,  in  the  first  instance,  Where 
have  the  great  masters  of  the  lyre,  the  high-priests 
of  poesy's  temple,  her  bards  of  the  epic  song,  turned 
for  subjects  befitting  their  lofty  muse?  we  reply,  to 
the  Bible.  There  at  least,  did  he,  most  gifted  of 
them   all,  find  a  theme  equal  to  the  immensity  of 


MODERN   POETRY.  259 

his  imagination  and  the  wide  sweep  of  his  poetic 
vision.  For  long  years  must  the  lofty  genius  which 
produced  the  Allegro  and  Penseroso,  have  been  re- 
volving some  still  nobler  monument  to  its  poetic 
fame.  And  when  it  at  length  essayed  to  build  the 
grandest  epic  the  world  has  ever  seen,  the  subject 
it  selected  is  emphatically  a  Biblical  one.  Had 
Moses  not  penned  the  Pentateuch,  Milton  could 
never  have  written  "Paradise  Lost."  And  on  his, 
a  second  time,  essaying  the  epic,  he  wrote  ''Para- 
dise Regained,"  thereby  confessing  that  his  themes 
could  be  found  only  in  the  Bible.  There  is  a 
grand  unity  of  idea  in  these  two  epics;  and  it  was 
a  fine  tribute  which  the  poet  paid  to  the  Scrip- 
tures, when,  having  found  what  we  might  call  the 
first  half  of  his  great  thought  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, he  turned  to  the  New  Testament,  as  if  only 
there  he  could  find  the  other  half.  The  Bible  com- 
pletes itself — so  reckoned  Milton;  and  therefore  to 
the  Bible  he  turned  for  the  completion  of  his  epical 
idea.  Nor  could  this  great  master  of  tho  divine 
art  attempt  the  drama  but  he  must  betake  himself 
to  the  Scriptures  for  a  subject;  and  thus  appeared 
his  "Samson  Agonistes."  Or  if  we  turn  to  the 
poets  of  Italy,  and  it  is  asked.  What  has  given  its 
so  solemn  tone  to  the  muse  of  Dante,  and  kindled 
his  poetry  with  so  prophetic  a  fervor?  the  answer 
plainly  is,  that  it  could  only  "^e  his  high  apprecia- 
tion of  the  writers  of  the  Old  Testament.  This 
poet's    ardent    admiration   of  the   learning    of   the 


260        LITERARY  ACniEVEMENTS   OF  THE   BIBLE. 

ancients  lias  too  often  betrayed  him  into  blending 
the  ancient  mythologies  with  the  sacred  writings; 
but  at  the  same  time  the  profounder  impression 
which  the  latter  had  made  on  his  imagination 
may  be  traced  on  every  page  of  his  "Inferno." 
Although  Tasso's  great  epic  is  not  a  Biblical  sub- 
ject, yet  does  it  owe  its  peculiar  interest  to  its 
scene  being  laid  in  a  land  which  the  Bible  has 
rendered  sacred  ground.  Jerusalem !  rich  above  all 
other  cities  in  hallowed  recollections — brilliant  be- 
yond comparison  from  its  association  with  all  our 
religious  feelings — near  it  lying  the  cradle  of  the 
human  race — its  environs,  the  haunts  of  inspired 
bards — itself  the  city  which  God  chose  for  his  resi- 
dence during  his  incarnate  life  on  earth — how  could 
Tasso's  muse  sing  of  its  deliverance,  and  not  be 
kindled  with  somewhat  of  the  solemn  fervor,  and 
sustained  by  a  measure  of  the  awful  grandeur  of 
its  own  ancient  bards?  Tasso  paid  a  still  more 
direct  tribute  to  the  Bible — though  his  muse  failed 
to  sustain  her  former  wing — by  composing  a  Chris- 
tian epic  on  the  Creation.  The  epoist  of  Germany 
could  not  indeed  soar  in  the  eye  of  the  sun,  like  our 
English  Milton;  yet  as  reverently  as  he,  Klopstock 
has  done  homage  to  the  Bible  by  selecting  from  it 
the  subject  of  his  ''Messiah."  And  whether  the 
"Course  of  Time,"  by  Pollok,  shall  be  admitted  to 
be  an  epic,  yet  must  it  be  confessed  to  be  a  won- 
derful poem  as  the  production  of  one  so  young  in 
years;  nor  can  yet  the  reader  fail  to  perceive  that 


MODERN   POETRY.  261 

the  altar-flame  which  might  be  said,  alas!  too  liter- 
ally to  have  wasted  this  martyr  of  the  muses,  was 
kindled  at  the  Scriptures.  And  we  may  here  add 
that  one,  who,  if  he  is  not,  might  have  been,  a 
great  poet,  Samuel  Taylor  Coleridge,  among  his 
other  unachieved  projects,  contemplated  writing  an 
epic  poem;  and  the  subject  which  he  would  have 
selected,  as  in  his  opinion  the  only  one  worthy  to 
be  sung  after  Paradise  Lost,  was  the  Destruction  of 
Jerusalem — ^also  a  Biblical  subject. 

Here  then  we  find  the  Epic  muse,  with  the  world 
of  fiction  all  open  to  her  range,  and  the  pages  of 
profane  history  spread  out  before  her  meditative 
eye;  but  not  in  that  world  of  fiction,  nor  on  those 
pages  of  profane  history,  could  she  find  her  fitting 
subjects.  For  she  must  sing  of  themes  more  fair 
than  this  unfolds,  and  of  events  more  grand  than 
these  record.  But  where,  then,  shall  she  find  such? 
where  but  in  the  book  of  God? 

Among  our  poets  who  have  touched  the  loftier 
strings  of  the  lyre,  though  they  scarcely  ventured 
into  the  region  of  the  epic,  not  a  few  have  chosen 
Biblical  subjects,  or  subjects  which  the  Bible  sug- 
gested. These,  too,  in  the  measure  of  their  genius, 
have  thus  done  homage  to  the  Book  Divine.  So 
Spenser  wrote  his  Faery  Queen,  whose  allegory  is 
traced  all  through,  thick  as  cloth  of  gold,  with 
figures  borrowed  from  the  robes  of  the  Hebrew 
muse.  So  also  Herbert,  the  poet-pastor,  wrote  his 
Temple,  which,  though  bright  with  quaint  conceits 


262        LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

and  fantastic  imagery,  after  the  fashion  of  his  time. 
has,  withal,  a  holy  beauty  and  magnificence  which 
are  quite  Scriptural.  So  also  Giles  Fletcher  wrote 
his  Christ's  Victory  and  Triumph,  a  poem  which 
evidently  gave  hints  to  Milton  when  composing  his 
second  epic.  So  also  from  the  Scriptures  were 
drawn  some  of  the  happiest  inspirations  of  the 
poetry  of  Donne,  rugged,  yet  fancy-rich;  of  Philip 
Quarles,  so  quaintly  emblematic;  of  Richard  Cra- 
shaw,  over  much  tinctured  with  superstition's  mel- 
ancholy, yet  often  rising  into  "lyric  raptures;"  of 
Cowley,  too,  by  turns  easy,  gay,  witty,  subtile, 
splendid,  albeit  somewhat  fantastic  and  extrava- 
gant; and  of  Parnell,  picturesquely  solemn  as  its 
own  hermit's  haunts,  yet  melodious  in  the  rhythm 
of  its  numbers  as  the  wood-notes  in  the  anchorite's 
grove.  So  also,  among  our  later  poets,  Cowper  has 
sung  of  Hope,  Truth,  Charity;  Graham  of  the 
Sabbath;  Blair  of  the  Grave;  Heber  of  Palestine; 
Montgomery  of  the  World  before  the  Flood; 
Michael   Bruce   of  the   Last  Day. 

Nor  could  our  poets  who  touched  more  seldom 
the  sacred  lyre  refrain  from  at  times  waking  up 
its  strings  to  Biblical  subjects.  Thus  the  eagle- 
eyed  but  vulture-breasted  muse  of  Byron  has  sung 
the  Hebrew  Melodies;  the  romantic  muse  of  Scott 
has  kindled  into  more  than  its  wonted  passion  in 
the  Hymn  of  the  Hebrew  Maid;  the  all  but  volup- 
tuous muse  of  Moore  has  warbled  with  a  spiritual 


MODERN   POETRY*  263 

note  in  the  Song  of  Miriam;  the  polished  muse  of 
Pope  has  caught  the  fire  of  the  olden  prophets  in 
the  Messiah;  and  the  wayward  muse  of  Burns, 
random-roving  as  a  very  child  of  Nature,  has  struck 
its  Doric  note,  the  sweetest  to  our  taste  it  ever 
sung,  in  the  Cotter  s  Saturday  Night.  And  how 
can  we  refrain  from  adding  the  remark,  that  if 
these  favorite  sons  of  our  national  muse,  more  espe- 
cially Byron  and  Burns,  had  often er  tuned  the  lyre 
to  similar  strains,  and  less  often  to  those  they  have 
preferred,  then  might  modesty  have  sometimes  been 
spared  a  blush,  passion  sometimes  a  pang,  and 
youthful  desire  sometimes  a  temptation;  while  the 
laurels  on  their  own  gifted  brows  would  have 
sparkled  with  the  dew-drops  of  immortality,  un- 
mingled  with  the  tears  shed  by  those  who  have  had 
to  lament  the  hours  worse  than  wasted  over  some 
of  their,  alas,  too  fascinating  pages ! 

Then  there  is  our  hymnology,  which  has  been 
charged  as  wanting  in  the  fervid  lyric  strain,  and 
the  nervous  sinew  of  the  true  hymn.  And  so,  may- 
hap, it  is,  yet  who  will  not  own  it  to  be  redolent  of 
all  gentlest  and  softest  emotions;  harping  out  the 
soul's  sweet  love  to  Him  who  is  the  friend  of  sin- 
ners; breathing  a  chastened  rapture,  a  subdued 
passion,  a  quiet  devoutness.  Yes,  with  all  their 
defects,  we  could  ill  afibrd  to  want  these  sacred 
lays.  The  young  and  the  poor  in  the  land,  at  least, 
would  miss  them.     And  whence  have  these  streams 


264        LITERARY   ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

of  holy  song  been  drawn?  They  have  been  drawn 
from  the  Bible;  for  had  not  its  inspired  song  first 
flowed  forth  from  Sion's  hill  and  Siloa's  brook,  our 
sacred  literature  would  never  have  been  enriched 
with  the  hymns  of  an  Addison,  a  Cowper,  a  New- 
ton, a  Toplady,  a  Watts,  a  Montgomery,  a  Heber,  a 
Bernard  Barton,  or  a  Henry  Kirke  White;  nor 
would  the  literature  of  Germany  have  felt  the  be- 
nign influence  of  the  hymns  of  Luther. 

Here  it  merits  to  be  noticed,  that  the  earliest 
attempts  of  Anglo-Saxon  poetry  were  upon  Scrip- 
tural subjects.  Caedmon,  who  was  a  poet  of  Nature's 
making,  without  the  aids  of  education,  so  astonished 
his  cotemporaries  by  his  verse,  that  they  all  were 
of  opinion  that  he  had  received  the  gift  of  song 
from  heaven.  Nor  is  it  to  be  wondered  at,  if  the 
learned  scholastics  of  that  age,  who  thought  the 
vernacular  tongue  unfit  even  for  prose,  were  smitten 
with  marvel  to  hear  it  poured  forth  in  not  unmel- 
lifluous  numbers,  and  on  subjects  so  lofty  as  the 
Creation,  by  the  unlettered  monk  of  Whitby.  It 
has  been  remarked — and  I  draw  attention  to  the 
circumstance  as  showing  the  efl'ect  of  a  Biblical 
theme  to  refine  and  elevate  the  rustic  muse,  for 
Caedmon  at  one  time  had  been  a  cow-herd — that  his 
account  of  the  Fall  of  Man  is  somewhat  like  that 
given  in  "Paradise  Lost;"  and  that  one  passage  ii: 
it  might  almost  be  supposed  to  have  been  the 
foundation  of  a  corresponding  one  in  Milton's  sub- 
lime epic.     It  is  that  in  whicli  Satan  is  described 


MODERN   POETRY.  265 

as   reviving    from    the    consternation    of  his    over- 
throw. 

(2.)  But  the  Bible  has  done  more  than  suggest 
subjects  to  our  poets,  it  has  also  supplied  them  with 
materials  for  their  art — with  ideas,  images,  meta- 
phors, references,  and  forms  of  expression.  From 
Spenser  downward,  the  Bible  has  been  regarded  as 
a  sort  of  free  common  by  the  British  muse,  from 
which  to  borrow  at  will,  and  this  has  been  done  not 
by  our  minor  poets  only,  but  also  by  our  great 
poets;  perhaps  oftenest  of  all  by  our  three  greatest, 
Spenser,  Milton,  and  Shakspeare.  Of  the  first  of 
these  it  has  been  justly  remarked  by  Dr.  Maculloch, 
in  his  excellent  little  work  on  "The  Literary  Char- 
acteristics of  the  Bible,"  that  "for  his  thoughts  and 
imagery  he  is  indebted,  next  to  his  own  enchanting 
genius,  to  the  treasures  of  Scripture.  Some,  indeed, 
of  his  most  exquisite  passages  are  but  expansions — 
though  most  graceful  and  melodious  expansions — of 
ideas  borrowed  from  the  sacred  page."  With  regard 
to  Milton,  his  "Paradise  Lost"  literally  abounds  in 
Biblical  imitations,  similitudes,  references,  and  quo- 
tations. How  freely  he  has  drawn  upon  his  vast 
stores  of  classical  erudition  to  adorn  his  sacred  epic 
must  be  known  to  every  reader.  But  even  to  a 
still  larger  extent  he  has  drawn  upon  the  Hebrew 
classics.  It  is  an  observation  by  one  of  his  com- 
mentators that  "throughout  the  whole  of  'Paradise 
Lost,'  the  author  appears  to  have  been  a  most  crit- 
ical reader  and  passionate  admirer  of  Holy  Scrip- 

Zo 


2G6        LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

ture.  He  is  indebted  to  Scripture  infinitely  more 
than  to  Homer  and  Virgil,  and  all  other  books 
whatever.  Not  only  the  principal  fable,  but  all  his 
episodes,  are  founded  on  Scripture.  The  Scripture 
has  not  only  furnished  him  with  the  noblest  hints, 
raised  his  thoughts,  and  fired  his  imagination,  but 
has  also  very  much  enriched  his  language,  given  a 
certain  solemnity  and  majesty  to  his  diction,  and 
supplied  him  with  many  of  his  choicest,  happiest 
expressions."  In  his  admirable  critique  on  this 
great  poem,  Addison,  while  showing  a  fine  apprecia- 
tion of  his  author,  has  confessed  that  for  many  of 
his  sublimest  strokes  he  is  indebted  to  the  Scrip- 
tures. And  when,  moreover,  one  considers  how 
much  of  the  spirit  of  the  Hebrew  bards  is  inter- 
fused throughout  this  entire  epic;  how  that  the 
poet's  own  mind  seems  to  have  been  steeped  as  it 
were  in  theirs;  it  might  seem  as  if  these  were 
the  Elijahs  of  ancient  song,  and  he  the  Elisha 
of  modern  song,  on  whom  their  mantle  had  fallen. 
Our  great  dramatist,  who  is  confessed  the  most  orig- 
inal of  the  poets,  has  not  seldom  availed  himself 
of  the  sacred  Scriptures.  I  have  lying  before 
me  a  goodly  volume  of  some  two  hundred  pages 
octavo,  published  by  a  member  of  the  Shakspeare 
Society,  entitled,  ''Eeligious  and  Moral  Sentences 
Culled  from  the  Works  of  Shakspeare,  compared 
with  Sacred  Passages  drawn  from  Holy  Writ." 
Some  of  the  passages  which  this  author  quotes  as 
references  and  imitations  are  somewhat  far-fetched; 


MODERN  POETRY.  267 

but  after  deducting  sucli,  there  remains  a  full  hund- 
red of  what  appear  to  me  to  be  unquestionable  in- 
stances of  Biblical  imitation.  It  may  gratify  the 
reader  if  I  give  a  few  instances. 

"  Sluiced  out  his  innocent  soul,  through  streams  of  blood  j 
Which  blood,  like  sacrificing  Abel's,  cries 
for  justice." 

"  The  sons  of  Edward  sleep  in  Abraham's  bosom." 

"  I  tell  thee,  churlish  priest, 
A  minist'ring  angel  shall  my  sister  be. 
When  thou  liest  howling." 

"  If  ever  I  were  traitor, 
My  name  be  blotted  from  the  Book  of  Life." 

"  It  is  as  hard  to  come,  as  for  a  camel 
To  thread  the  postern  of  a  needle's  eye." 

**  The  worm  of  conscience  shall  be-gnaw  thy  soul." 

"  What  Eve,  what  serpent  hath  suggested  thee. 
To  make  a  second  fall  of  cursed  man  ?" 

"  God  saw  him  when  he  was  hid  in  the  garden." 

"And  this  land  be  called 
The  field  of  Golgotha,  and  dead  men's  skulls." 

**Did  they  not  sometime  cry.  All  hail  I  to  me? 
So  Judas  did  to  Christ." 

"  Whiles  the  mad  mothers,  with  their  howls  confused, 
Do  break  the  clouds,  as  did  the  wives  of  Jewry 
At  Herod's  bloody-hunting  slaughtermen." 

"  0  Thou  that  judgest  all  things  !  stay  my  thoughts, 
If  my  suspect  be  false,  forgive  me,  God, 
For  judgment  only  doth  belong  to  thee." 

"  You  drop  manna  in  the  way  of  starved  people." 

*'  You  found  his  mote,  the  king  your  mote  did  see  j 
But  I  a  beam  do  find  in  each  of  three." 


268    LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

"  0  1  my  offense  is  rank,  it  smells  to  heaven  j 
It  hath  the  primal^  eldest  curse  upon  *t — 
A  brother's  murder." 

''Blessed  are  the  peace-makers  on  earth." 

"  How  fain,  like  Pilate,  would  I  wash  my  hands 
Of  this  most  grievous,  guilty  murder  done  I" 

"  All  the  souls  that  were  were  forfeit  once  ; 
And  he  that  might  the  vantage  best  have  took, 
Found  out  the  remedy." 

"  Wisdom  cries  out  in  the  streets,  and  no  man  regards  it." 

Dr.  Spring,  of  New  York,  in  his  excellent  lectures 
on  "The  Obligations  of  the  World  to  the  Bible," 
remarks:  ''There  is  not  a  finer  character,  nor  a 
finer  description  in  all  the  works  of  Walter  Scott 
than  that  of  Eebekah  in  Ivanhoe.  And  who  does 
not  see  that  it  owes  its  excellence  to  the  Bible? 
Shakspeare,  Byron,  and  Southey,  are  not  a  little 
indebted  for  some  of  their  best  scenes  and  inspira- 
tions to  the  same  source.  At  the  suggestion  of  a 
valued  friend,  I  have  turned  my  thoughts  to  the 
parallel  between  Macbeth  and  Ahab — between  Lady 
Macbeth  and  Jezebel — between  the  announcement 
to  MacduiF  of  the  murder  of  his  family,  and  that 
to  David  of  the  death  of  Absalom  by  Joab — to  the 
parallel  between  the  opening  of  the  Lamentations 
of  Jeremiah  and  Byron's  apostrophe  to  Eome  as 
the  Niobe  of  nations — to  the  parallel  between  his 
Ode  to  Napoleon  and  Isaiah's  ode  on  the  fall  of 
Sennacherib — and  also  to  the  resemblance  between 
Southey's  chariot  of  Carmala  in  the  'Curse  of  Ke- 


MODEKJT  POETKY.  269 

hama'  and  Ezekiel's  vision  of  the  wheels;  and  have 
been  forcibly  impressed  with  the  obligations  of  this 
class  of  writers  to  the  sacred  Scriptures."  To  this 
I  would  add,  that  one  might  imagine  that  Fletcher, 
in  his  "  Purple  Island,"  and  Gawin  Douglas,  in  his 
"  King  Heart,"  had  in  their  eye  Solomon's  allegory 
in  the  closing  chapter  of  Ecclesiastes. 

Had  our  poets  thus  freely  borrowed  from  any 
other  book,  without  doubt  the  critics  would  have 
called  it  plagiarism,  and  have  censured  it  accord- 
ingly as  literary  theft.  But  seeing  it  is  only  from 
the  Bible,  the  critics  have  no  fault  to  find;  nor 
have  we  with  them  for  their  leniency.  For  whether 
the  critics  intended  it  or  not,  they  could  scarcely 
have  paid  a  higher  tribute  to  the  literary  affluence 
of  the  Bible.  Other  authors  need  to  have  their 
intellectual  property  protected,  since  they  can  ill 
afford  to  have  their  thoughts  appropriated  by  oth- 
ers. But  here  is  an  amplitude  of  subject  so  large, 
a  diversity  of  thought  so  various,  a  richness  of 
illustration  so  exhaustless,  and  an  originality  so  un- 
questionable, that  this  book,  which  borrows  from 
none,  can  well  afford  to  lend  to  all.  And  what 
imagination  so  lofty,  but  it  finds  here  something 
grander  than  its  own;  or  what  fancy  so  fine,  but 
here  are  images  fairer  than  itself  could  draw;  or 
what  information  so  copious,  but  here  it  may  find 
something  new! 

I  have  alluded  to  how  much  the  poet's  muse  has 
been  sustained  by  his  choice  of  Scriptural  subjects, 


270        LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

but  if  he  shall  not  have  proved  true  to  the  Scrip- 
tural treatment  of  the  theme,  it  may  be  found  that 
he  has  failed  to  reach  the  full  altitude  of  his  power. 
As  illustrative  of  this,  though  the  passage  is  of 
considerable  length,  I  can  not  refrain  from  quoting 
at  full  the  following  from  Landrith's  ''Studies  and 
Sketches  in  Modern  Literature:" 

"The  'Last  Man'  is  a  theme  foreign  to  Camp- 
bell's range,  yet  is  treated  with  a  grandeur  and 
condensed  energy  of  inspiration  which,  if  not  above 
his  former  capacity,  had  at  least  been  latent  hith- 
erto. The  scenery,  the  solitude,  and  the  sentiments 
of  the  piece  are  impressively  solemn,  and  in  keeping 
with  the  peculiar  situation  of  the  'last  of  Adam's 
race.'  The  poet,  however,  by  disregarding  Scrip- 
ture hints  about  the  last  day,  and  by  following  out 
inferior  and  less  suggestive  ideas  of  his  own,  has 
failed  to  develop  the  proper  sublimities  of  his  sub- 
ject. We  shall  briefly  point  out  his  deviations  and 
their  injurious  effect.  Why  should  he  represent 
the  last  day  of  time  as  drawing  upon  only  one 
man  —  the  sole  survivor  of  his  race?  It  is  not 
unlikely,  indeed,  that  the  population  of  the  earth 
may  then  have  been  greatly  reduced  by  the  vice 
and  crime  which  are  to  prevail  between  the  millen- 
nium and  the  last  day,  still  there  will  be  left  many 
'peoples,  races,  and  tongues'  to  furnish,  as  in  the 
days  preceding  the  flood,  hosts  of  revelers,  groups 
eating,  drinking,  marrying,  and  giving  in  mar- 
riage,' and  jesting  openly  under  the  shadow  of  the 


MODERN  POETRY.  271 

descending  throne  of  the  Judge.  There  is,  doubt- 
less, a  certain  impressiveness  in  the  isolation  of  one 
man — the  single  remnant  of  humanity — in  a  world 
erewhile  crowded,  over  all  its  surface  of  sea  and 
land,  wdth  vast  populations  and  their  manifold  act- 
ivities; and  striking  is  the  picture  of  'ships  drift- 
ing with  the  dead  to  shores  where  all  was  dumb.' 
Still,  the  truth  contained  in  divine  prophecy  has 
ever  a  richer  and  nobler  poetry  than  belongs  to 
any  human  fancy;  and  Campbell,  in  his  deviation 
from  that  truth,  left  behind  him  greater  treasures 
of  sublimity  than  those  which  he  could  gather  in 
his  own  path.  Without  sacrificing  the  sublimity 
wrapped  up  in  the  isolation  of  one  man,  he  might 
also  have  availed  himself  of  that  which  is  naturally 
inspired  by  the  presence  of  a  whole  generation  in 
earth's  most  awful  crisis;  for  might  he  not  have  put 
forth  some  grand  embodiment  of  piety — a  saintly 
man,  separated  from,  protesting  against,  persecuted 
by,  yet  interceding  for,  his  godless  cotemporaries  ? 

''Secondly,  Why  has  Campbell  reserved  his  'last 
man '  for  the  old  and  common  doom  of  death,  when 
according  to  Scripture,  all  who  shall  be  living  down 
to  the  day  of  judgment  will  be  'changed?'  This 
transformation  and  its  process  would  have  furnished 
a  new  and  grand  scope  for  imagination. 

"Again,  Campbell  represents  the  earth  as  in  the 
last  stage  of  decay,  with  every  unequivocal  symp- 
tom of  immediate  dissolution;  whereas  Scripture 
Beems  to  intimate  that  the  last  day  will  dawn  upon 


272        LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

a  world  that  has  lost  none  of  its  meridian  vigor 
and  splendor.  ScoiFers  are  to  look  to  land,  sea,  and 
sky,  and  'ask  for  the  sign  of  His  coming.'  There 
will  be  no  passing  portents,  much  less  such  a  per- 
petual warning  as  physical  deterioration  to  corre- 
spond with  moral  degeneration.  Now,  had  the  poet 
adhered  to  the  information  of  Scripture  about  such 
points,  the  sublimity  of  the  piece  would  have  been 
greatly  enhanced." 

(3.)  But  beside  suggesting  subjects  and  furnish- 
ing materials,  the  Bible  has  had  an  immense  indi- 
rect influence  in  molding  and  coloring  our  poetic 
literature. 

The  function  of  every  true  poet  is  twofold — that 
of  an  interpreter  and  a  prophet.  As  an  interpreter, 
the  poet  has  to  articulate  and  expound  the  ideas  of 
his  own  and  of  preceding  ages.  As  a  prophet,  or — 
to  use  the  Latin  appellative — the  vates,  the  poet  has 
to  utter  his  own  ideas,  which  ought  to  be  in  ad- 
vance of  his  age.  The  ideas  which  he  has  to  inter- 
pret or  give  articulation  to  are  certain  impressions, 
wide-spread  it  may  be,  possibly  deep-seated,  yet 
voiceless  till  he  gives  them  articulate  utterance, 
when  every  one  hears  as  if  the  echo  of  his  own 
thoughts,  and  wonders  why  he  could  not  have  thus 
expressed  them.  The  ideas  which  the  poet  has  to 
contribute  are  those  views  of  nature  and  of  truth 
which  his  age  may  be  groping  toward,  but  sees 
them  only  as  dim  shadows  till  he  gives  them  form, 
*'a  local  habitation  and  a  name."     Now  this  being 


MODERN  POETRY.  273 

the  twofold  function  of  the  poet,  it  is  easy  to  see 
how  great  an  indirect  influence  the  Bible  must  have 
exerted  on  our  poetical  literature;  for  in  the  first 
place  it  pervaded  and  imbued  the  popular  mind, 
and  the  poet,  catching  by  reflection  the  ideas  of  his 
age — ideas  which  the  Bible  had  sent  afloat — would 
set  himself  to  shape  them  into  verse,  unconscious,  it 
might  be,  whence  they  had  come.  Then,  secondly, 
if  the  poet  himself  came  into  personal  contact  with 
the  Bible — and  who  can  conceive  of  a  true  poet  not 
reading  the  pages  of  Isaiah  and  David? — then, 
owing  to  its  assimilating  power,  and  the  poet's  own 
susceptible  temperament,  there  would  be  transferred 
to  his  soul  its  higher  forms  of  thought  and  deeper 
moods  of  feeling,  which,  when  he  afterward  shaped 
them  into  his  own  verse,  would  be  but  reflections 
from  its  pages,  though  he  might  not  remember  so. 
In  this  way  the  indirect  influence  which  the  Bible 
has  exerted  on  our  national  poetry  has  been  im- 
mense. Indeed  it  may  be  safely  averred  that  there 
is  not  a  single  great  English  poet  who  has  not 
given  manifest  proofs  of  the  ascendency  of  the 
Hebrew  genius  over  his  own;  how  his  thoughts, 
often  his  diction  have  assumed  an  Oriental  cast; 
how  the  seeds  of  the  great  thoughts  which  have 
germinated  in  his  mind  had  been  wafted  from  the 
sacred  gardens  of  Eastern  poetry,  and  the  pent  fire 
which  burned  within  him  till  it  found  vent  in  vocal 
flame,  had  been  greatly  fed  by  his  perusal  of  the 
poet-prophets  of  Palestine.     See,  for  example,  how 


274   LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OP  THE  BIBLE. 

conspicuously  this  is  the  case  with  Young,  Thomson, 
Byron,  Wordsworth,  Coleridge,  and  Southey.  The 
fire-flashes  of  that  torch  which,  when  waved  in  the 
hand  of  genius,  could  so  light  up  the  Night 
Thoughts,  was  kindled  at  the  New  Testament;  the 
easy  magnificence  and  lavish  ornament  in  the 
Seasons  betrays  the  ardent  admirer  of  the  Eastern 
pastorals;  the  daring  imagination  which  penned 
Cain,  a  Mystery,  must  have  gazed — would  it  had 
.been  with  a  holier  eye — upon  the  awful  mysteries 
of  the  inspired  muse;  the  calm,  contemplative  soul 
of  Wordsworth  looked  out  on  Nature  and  read  her 
hidden  hieroglyphs  with  an  eye  which  evidently  had 
been  trained  by  the  perusal  of  the  poetic  symbolism 
in  the  Bible;  the  solemn,  seer-like,  though  unstable 
genius  of  Coleridge,  which  could  pour  itself  in  such 
a  glorious  hymn  before  sunrise  in  the  Valley  of 
Chamouni,  was  steeped  till,  like  a  saturated  sponge, 
it  dripped  again  with  the  poetry  of  ancient  seers; 
and  while  Southey's  Thalaha  has  somewhat  too 
much  "the  arabesque  ornament  of  an  Arabian  tale," 
and  his  Curse  of  Kehama  overabounds  in  Hindoo 
mythology,  yet  one  can  not  fail  to  perceive  that  the 
poet's  eye,  which  ranged  Araby  and  Ind,  had  also 
gazed  on  Palestine,  whose  bards,  ages  before  he 
essayed  his  epics,  had  with  Eastern  imagery  woven 
their  own  nobler  specimens  of  Eastern  song. 

With  a  pardonable  pride  we  boast  our  national 
poetry — that  England  has  produced  the  greatest 
epoist  and  the  greatest  dramatist  of  any  age,  and 


MODERN  POETRY.  275 

Scotland  the  finest  lyrist  and  the  finest  song-writer 
of  modern  times.  But  why  not  at  the  same  time 
confess,  that  if  it  is  not  to  the  Bible  but  to  the 
accident  of  birth  that  England  is  indebted  for  her 
Milton  and  her  Shakspeare,  and  Scotland  for  her 
Campbell  and  her  Burns,  it  is  to  the  Bible  we  owe 
it  that  among  much  which  is  of  the  earth  earthy, 
there  are  in  these,  our  nation's  greatest  poets,  senti- 
ments more  refined,  thoughts  more  lofty,  subjects  of 
a  higher  range,  scintillations  of  a  purer  spark, 
strains  of  a  truer  human  sympathy,  images  of  a 
sublimer  illustration,  and  the  gold  of  genius  assayed 
in  a  more  searching  crucible,  than  are  to  be  found 
in  the  poets  of  pagan  antiquity — the  bards  of  those 
classic  lands  which  were  without  the  Bible? 


276        LITERARY   ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 


CHAPTER    lY. 

THE  BIBLE  THE  PROMOTER  OF  LITERATURE  AND  THE 
ARTS— MODERN  PAINTING. 

The  Bible  might,  indeed,  be  called  the  painter's 
book;  for  the  picture  galleries  of  Europe  are  hung 
with  innumerable  proofs  that  beyond  all  others  it 
has  furnished  subjects  for  the  pencil  of  the  artist. 
The  chef-d'ceuvres  of  Raphael,  of  Angelo,  of  Titian, 
Correggio,  Murillo,  Leonardi,  Rubens,  Rembrandt, 
Poussin,  indeed  of  all  the  great  masters,  are  Bibli- 
cal subjects.  Though  of  diverse  schools,  and  in 
different  countries,  with  singular  unanimity,  as  if 
drawn  by  one  common  impulse,  our  great  painters 
have  turned  to  the  Scriptures  for  those  subjects 
which  were  most  to  immortalize  their  own  fames 
and  ennoble  their  art. 

Under  the  hand  of  genius  the  canvas  has  been 
made  to  express  tenderness  the  most  melting,  and 
passion  of  the  fiercest  flame;  sublimity  in  its  grand- 
est forms;  the  fortitude  of  martyrs;  the  love  and 
constancy  of  woman;  the  heroic  deeds  of  the  most 
renowned  in  arms;  the  sweetest  pictures  of  domes- 
tic life;  the  most  appalling  images  of  desolation 
and  woe.  But  where  did  the  great  painters  go  for 
those  incidents,  those  characters,  and  those  groups, 


MODERN   PAINTING.  277 

•which  were  to  enable  them  to  represent  these  by 
their  imitative  art?  Did  they  go  for  them  to  Greek 
or  Eoman  story,  full  as  this  is  with  the  chivalry  of 
war,  with  the  fortitude  of  patriotism,  with  the  tri- 
umphs of  eloquence,  the  passion  of  love,  the  romance 
of  adventure,  and  the  grand  vicissitudes  of  nations? 
No;  not  so  often  to  these  great  histories,  though 
the  classic  pens  of  a  Herodotus  and  a  Thucydides, 
of  a  Livy  and  a  Tacitus,  had  memorialized  them ; 
but  to  the  Hebrew  historians  did  the  painters  go 
for  their  subjects.  Only  there  could  they  find  their 
high  ideal  of  the  sublime,  the  pathetic,  the  tender, 
or  the  terrible.  Only  there  was  realized  their  full 
conception  of  the  warrior,  the  patriot,  the  prophet, 
and  the  saint.  Rapt  into  the  past  of  Jewish  his- 
tory, the  Genius  of  Painting  confessed  herself  sup- 
plied with  themes  worthy  of  her  immortal  labors. 

As  I  shall  have  occasion  to  remark,  ere  the  close 
of  this  chapter,  the  younger  masters  go  less  fre- 
quently to  the  Bible  for  their  subjects  than  the 
elder  masters  were  wont  to  do.  Yet  we  find  the 
former  occasionally  drawn  to  the  Scriptures,  as  if 
the  Genius  of  Painting  in  no  age  could  altogether 
abstain  from  this  great  repertory  of  loftiest  subjects. 
Among  our  English  artists  we  have  several  fine 
specimens  of  sacred  painting.  I  would  instance 
*' Christ  Lamenting  over  Jerusalem,"  by  Sir  Charles 
Eastlake.  In  this  charming  work  the  touching 
sensibilities  of  the  theme  are  brought  out  with  a 
matchless  power,  pathos,  and  poetry.     I  would  also 


278        LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

instance  "Job  and  his  Friends,"  by  Poole.  Here 
we  have  a  specimen  of  religious  art  which  is  strik- 
ingly original,  affording  proof  how  impressive  a 
Biblical  subject  can  be  made,  when,  as  this  artist 
does,  it  is  treated  diflferently  from  the  current  tone 
of  conventionality.  I  would  also  instance  the  Scrip- 
ture landscapes  of  Martin,  which  may  be  said  to 
form  a  class  by  themselves,  and  to  realize  the  most 
terrible  of  the  Old  Testament  scenes.  A  competent 
critic  has  pronounced  that  "the  supernatural  splen- 
dor of  the  'Handwriting  on  the  Wall,'  and  'Joshua 
Commanding  the  Sun  to  stand  Still,'  can  never  pass 
from  the  mind  of  any  one  with  either  imagination 
or  feeling." 

There  is  a  living  painter,  not  the  least  bright 
luminary  of  the  Northern  Academy,  who  has  given 
us  the  results  of  his  pencil  in  a  walk  of  art,  which, 
if  not  strictly  Biblical,  yet  is  of  that  religious  cast 
which  is  clearly  traceable  to  the  Bible.  Mr.  Harvey 
has  illustrated,  with  the  power  of  a  master,  the 
theological  history  of  Scotland.  Throwing  his  sym- 
pathies backward  into  the  struggles  for  conscience' 
sake  which  were  maintained  by  his  countrymen  in 
by-gone  times,  he  has  reared  a  pictorial  monument 
to  men  who  had  received  the  still  higher  fame  of 
martyrdom  as  the  heroes  of  the  Covenant.  Drawn 
by  a  like  sympathy  to  the  corresponding  struggles 
in  England,  he  has  memorialized  the  heroic  deeds 
and  martyr  endurances  of  the  Puritans.  Such  noble 
pictures  as  "Covenanters  Preaching,"  " Covenanter^' 


MODERN  PAINTING.  279 

Baptism,"  "Covenanters'  Communion,"  "First  Bead- 
ing of  the  Bible  in  the  Crypt  of  St.  Paul's,"  "Bun- 
yan  in  Bedford  Jail,"  and  "Sabbath  in  the  Glen," 
strike  an  inmost  chord  in  the  breast  of  every  lover 
of  art  and  of  the  Bible. 

What  we  take  to  be  perhaps  a  still  higher  tribute 
was  paid  by  the  great  painters  to  the  Bible,  when 
seeking  not  only  for  subjects  which  were  worthy  of 
their  art,  but  also  for  subjects  which  would  enable 
them  to  display  their  own  peculiar  powers,  they 
still  went  to  it  in  preference  to  other  sources.  Let 
me  illustrate  this  in  the  case  of  four  great  masters, 
who  stand  perhaps  unrivaled,  each  in  his  own  pe- 
culiar style — Leonardi  da  Vinci,  Michael  Angelo, 
Eaphael,  and  Eembrandt.  Though  the  first  of  these 
great  painters  could  excel  also  in  depicting  rapid 
motion  and  impetuous  action — as  witness  the  whirl- 
wind charge  of  his  horsemen  in  the  celebrated  car- 
toon for  Florence — yet  his  greater  strength  lay  in 
depicting  tranquil  sublimity,  solemn  grandeur,  and 
pathetic  grace.  Conscious  of  his  peculiar  power, 
Leonardi  sought  for  a  subject  on  which  he  could 
fully  display  it;  and,  as  if  guided  by  the  instinct 
of  his  genius,  he  turned  to  the  New  Testament, 
and  selecting  therefrom  the  Last  Supper,  has  pro- 
duced at  once  his  greatest  and  most  characteristic 
work.  The  very  boldest  conception,  grandeur  of 
form,  and  breadth  of  manner,  are  the  elements  of 
Michael  Angelo's  '  style.  The  imagination  of  this 
mighty  genius,  who  has  been   called  the  inventor 


280        LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE   BIBLE, 

of  epic  painting,  delighted  in  the  union  of  magnifi- 
cence of  plan  with  endless  variety  of  subordinate 
parts,  and  of  the  utmost  simplicity  with  the  great- 
est breadth.  He  too  sought  for  a  subject  which 
would  exercise  his  peculiar  powers;  and  guided  by 
the  instinct  of  his  genius  to  the  New  Testament, 
he  selected  therefrom  the  Last  Judgment,  and  pro- 
duced that  marvelous  painting,  in  which,  as  Fuseli 
observes,  "he  has  personified  every  attribute  that 
varies  the  human  body,  and  traced  the  master  trait 
of  every  passion  that  sways  the  human  heart."  The 
genius  of  Kaphael,  who  has  been  designated  the 
father  of  dramatic  painting,  though  not  less  lofty, 
was  milder  than  that  of  Angelo.  He  too  might 
have  painted  a  Last  Judgment;  but  to  represent 
some  milder  glory  on  the  earth  better  suited  hia 
style.  Seeking  for  a  subject  in  the  full  maturity 
of  his  powers,  the  instinct  of  his  genius  led  him 
also  to  the  New  Testament,  from  which  he  selected 
the  Transfiguration.  And  though  death  smote  the 
hand  of  the  mighty  master  ere  yet  it  had  given 
the  finishing  touches  to  this  noble  work,  it  remains 
the  most  perfect  masterpiece  that  modern  art  has 
produced.  The  head  of  Christ,  which  is  said  to 
have  been  the  painter's  last  labor,  is  his  mightiest 
triumph.  None  but  Raphael's  pencil  could  have 
painted,  and  nowhere  but  from  Scripture  could 
Raphael's  genius  have  got  the  conception  of  such 
a  head.  Infinitely  beneath  those  three  in  all  that 
pertains  to  form,  Rembrandt  excels  them,  as  indeed 


MODERN  PAINTING.  281 

all  others,  in  this  profound  knowledge  of  harmony 
in  coloring,  and  in  his  management  of  the  lights 
and  darks,  technically  called  chiaroscuro.  And  he 
too,  guided  by  the  instinct  of  his  genius,  went  to 
the  Bible  for  those  subjects  which  afforded  a  field 
for  the  display  of  his  peculiar  power.  Thus  he 
frequently  handled  the  Nativity;  and  if  the  reader 
has  happened  to  see  his  picture  in  the  National 
Gallery,  he  will  have  perceived  how  such  a  subject 
gave  full  scope  to  this  master  of  coloring.  The 
glory  emanating  from  the  Divine  infant,  and  the 
lantern  in  the  hand  of  the  shepherd,  together  with 
the  light  in  the  background  having  some  source 
not  comprised  within  the  limits  of  the  picture, 
have  enabled  the  painter  to  distinguish  between 
the  supernatural  and  natural  light,  and  the  various 
gradations  of  both,  with  that  exquisite  effect  which 
he  alone  could  produce. 

The  reader  will  probably  have  heard  of  the 
Bowyer  Bible.  I  transcribe  the  following  descrip- 
tion of  it  from  one  of  our  periodicals,  because  it  will 
serve  to  show  to  how  very  great  an  extent  our 
artists  had  selected  Biblical  subjects:  "William 
Bowyer  is  now  chiefly  remembered  in  connection 
with  one  particular  copy  of  the  Bible.  Macklin 
ventured  on  the  most  costly  edition  of  the  Bible 
ever  issued  from  the  press;  and  Bowyer,  possessing 
one  copy  of  this  work,  devoted  the  leisure  of  nearly 
thirty  years  to  illustrating  it.     He  procured  from 

every    part   of    Europe    engravings,    etchings,    and 

24 


282   LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

original  drawings  relating  to  Biblical  subjects ;  and 
these,  to  the  number  of  seven  thousand,  he  inter- 
leaved with  his  Bible.  From  Michael  Angelo  and 
EafFaelle  to  Eeynolds  and  West,  every  artist  whose 
Scripture  subjects  had  been  engraved  was  brought 
into  requisition.  Bowyer,  having  only  his  own 
taste  to  please,  gave  a  very  wide  scope  to  the 
words  'Scriptural'  and  'Biblical,'  insomuch  that  he 
included  plates  of  natural  history  that  might  pos- 
sibly illustrate  the  cosmogony  of  the  Bible.  The 
collection  included  the  best  Scripture  atlases.  Its 
most  original  features  were  two  hundred  drawings 
by  Lautherbourg.  Thus  he  went  on,  step  by  step, 
till  his  Bible  extended  to  forty-five  folio  volumes, 
including  examples  from  nearly  six  hundred  differ- 
ent ens^ravers." 

The  history  of  modern  painting  abundantly  illus- 
trates this  important  fact,  that  as  the  spirit  of 
Christianity  spread  and  interfused  European  civili- 
zation, the  fine  arts  expanded  with  it,  and  for  the 
first  time  since  the  decline  of  ancient  art,  began  to 
feel  an  inspiration  which  lifted  them  into  the  region 
of  poetry  and  sentiment.  Without  introducing  sub- 
ject of  polemical  discussion,  which  needs  have  no 
place  on  these  pages,  it  is  but  simple  justice  to 
own  that  the  Church  of  Home  proved  herself  the 
liberal  patroness  of  painting;  and  that  to  the  de- 
votion with  which  she  inspired  the  early  masters 
is  in  chief  measure  owing  the  amazing  progress 
which   it   made;   for   with   them  painting  was  not 


MODERN   PAINTING.  283 

merely  an  art,  but  the  consecration  of  genius  to 
the  service  of  religion.  Having  said  this  much  in 
praise,  truth  constrains  us  to  add,  that  if  the  Church 
of  Rome  greatly  helped  the  art,  she  also  greatly 
hampered  the  artist.  For  there  is  no  denying  that 
a  false  ecclesiastical  taste,  with  the  rage  for  bizarre 
coloring  which  was  caused  by  a  sensuous  creed  and 
a  showy  ritual,  too  much  tied  down  the  early  mas- 
ters to  the  conventionalism  of  Church-art.  These 
were  fetters,  however,  which  could  not  always  bind 
the  spirit  or  cramp  the  hand  of  genius. 

The  great  event  of  modern  times  is  the  Reforma- 
tion; and  as  this  was  connected  with  the  dissemina- 
tion of  the  Scriptures,  and  with  the  right  claimed 
for  every  man  to  read  them  and  judge  for  himself, 
it  falls  within  our  subject  to  inquire  what  effect  the 
Reformation  had  upon  the  progress  of  art,  more 
especially  painting.  Your  dilettante,  or  mere  lover 
of  art,  whom  a  fine  painting  would  please  more  than 
a  pure  faith,  is  loud  in  his  lament,  that  from  the 
rise  of  the  reformed  religion  we  must  date  the 
downfall  of  art,  more  especially  that  painting, 
whose  sun  shone  in  its  zenith,  was  then  eclipsed; 
and  he  has  no  terms  strong  enough  in  which  to 
denounce  what  he  considers  the  vandalism  of  the 
Reformers.  Now  let  us  see  what  truth  there  is  in 
this  accusation,  or  what  ground  for  this  lament. 

If  the  leaders  of  the  Reformation  were  slow  to 
patronize  and  commend  the  fine  arts,  it  ought  to  be 


284       LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF  THE   BIBLE. 

remembered  how  greatly  these  arts  had  been  abused. 
They  were  not  the  men  to  object  to  fine  pictures,  as 
such.  Luther,  we  should  take  it,  possessed  more 
love  for  music  than  to  be  destitute  of  all  relish  for 
painting.  He  was  too  deeply  imbued  with  a  passion 
for  classic  learning  to  be  a  Goth  in  his  tastes. 
Even  although  the  works  of  the  great  masters  had 
been  produced  under  the  fostering  care  of  Popery, 
and  savored  not  a  little  of  her  errors;  still,  had 
these  adorned  the  walls  of  the  palaces,  the  senate 
halls,  the  public  buildings,  and  private  mansions, 
the  Reformers  were  not  the  men  who  would  have 
wished  them  destroyed.  But  when  these  were 
hung  upon  the  walls  of  the  sanctuaries,  and  round 
the  altars,  not  merely  for  decoration,  but  to  be 
helps  to  worship,  it  is  not  surprising  if  the  regen- 
erators of  the  Church  cared  less  to  preserve  these 
monuments  of  art,  than  to  make^sure  that  the  tem- 
ple was  purged.  Considering  the  use  •  to  which 
these  paintings  were  put,  and  the  idolatrous  tenden- 
cies which  that  use  fostered,  if  even  with  their  own 
hands  the  Reformers  had  destroyed  them,  we  should 
not  have  charged  them  with  being  Goths  and 
Vandals,  but  would  have  called  them  Iconoclasts — 
no  great  term  of  reproach  if  literally  rendered — 
-icZoZ-breakers.  It  is,  however,  simply  a  gratuitous 
accusation  to  say  that  the  Reformers  wantonly  de- 
stroyed the  works  of  art;  for  we  know  that  when 
the  enthusiasm — or  if  any  reader  wills,  the  fanati- 
cism— of  the  multitude  carried   them  the  length  of 


MODERN  PAINTma. 

demolishing  the  cathedrals  in  Scotland,  Knox  inter- 
posed to  save  more  than  one  of  these  noble  monu- 
ments of  architecture.  Then,  further,  men  who 
awoke  as  from  the  sleep  of  ages — awoke  to  find  that 
the  work  to  which  they  were  called  was  nothing 
less  than  to  emancipate  the  human  mind  from  spir- 
itual thrall  and  intellectual  serfdom — such  men, 
with  such  a  work  on  their  hands,  had  little  time, 
and  we  shall  even  suppose  no  great  inclination  for 
the  cultivation  or  patronage  of  the  fine  arts.  These 
had  been  made  to  twine  voluptuous  fetters  around 
more  than  merely  the  taste  and  the  imagination. 
Reason  and  faith  had  been  fastened  in  their  attract- 
ive chains.  No  wonder,  then,  if  for  a  time  the 
stern  eye  of  Truth  looked  suspiciously  upon  them; 
and  Liberty,  with  her  hardy  hand,  was  not  over 
gentle  when  snatching  them  away. 

As  to  the  lament  that  at  the  Reformation  paint- 
ing suffered  an  eclipse,  we  are  free  to  own  that  to  a 
certain  extent  this  was  the  case.  We  have  already 
hinted  at  causes  which  could  not  fail  to  produce 
this  effect.  But  then  the  eclipse  was  neither  total 
nor  permanent.  It  has  been  seen  how  the  Bible, 
when  comparatively  an  unknown  book,  had  contrib- 
uted to  raise  painting  to  what  it  was  in  the 
fifteenth  and  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  centuries; 
and  withoxrt  surprise  the  reader  will  hear  that  the 
Bible  had  not  lost  its  power  to  benefit  art  by  its 
being  disseminated  among  the  people.  There  are 
certain    influences    which    lose    in    depth    and    mo- 


286        LITERARY   ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

men  turn  of  current,  in  proportion  as  they  gain  of 
surface  by  diffusion.  But  the  Bible  is  not  among 
these.  In  proof  of  this  may  fairly  be  adduced  the 
service  which,  since  the  Eeformation,  it  has  ren- 
dered to  painting.  For  it  is  not  saying  too  much, 
that  the  restoration  of  this  art  is  in  no  small 
measure  to  be  attributed  to  the  Bible. 

We  venture  to  avow  the  opinion,  that  under 
Protestantism  a  healthier  school  of  painting  has 
risen  than  that  which  arose  under  Catholicism. 
The  pictorial  art,  if  less  than  formerly  the  illus- 
trator of  religion,  has  become  more  the  interpreter 
of  Nature,  which  we  take  to  be  its  more  appropriate 
function.  Now  that  love  of  Nature,  which  is  one  of 
the  first  attributes  in  a  true  painter,  is  greatly  en- 
couraged by  the  Scriptures,  as  we  had  occasion  to 
show  when  treating  of  the  picturesque.  Then,  fur- 
ther, the  opportunity  of  contemplating  Nature  under 
her  various  aspects,  and  in  her  difierent  climes,  is 
unquestionably  a  result  of  that  individual  freedom 
which  we  owe  to  the  Eeformation.  If  cloistered 
seclusion  was  favorable  to  one  branch  of  the  art — 
that  in  which  the  elder  masters  excelled — there  was 
another  branch  not  less  deserving  cultivation,  which 
can  be  studied  only  where  the  more  modern  masters 
are  studying  it — in  the  open  fields,  by  the  river's 
banks,  in  sight  of  the  forest  and  mountain  ranges, 
on  the  ocean  shore,  in  the  thoroughfares  of  every- 
day busy  life ;  and  if  it  be  so  that  our  later  painters 
go  less  frequently  to  the  Bible  for  their  subjects 


MODERN   PAINTING.  287 

than  did  the  earlier,  there  seems  small  reason  to 
regret  this;  rather  we  incline  to  think  that  there 
had  been  about  enough  of  the  Scriptures  transferred 
to  canvas.  We  deem  it  to  be  a  higher  function  of 
sacred  art,  at  any  rate  one  which  is  greatly  more 
useful,  to  produce  works  which  shall  breathe  the 
spirit,  rather  than  be  copies  of  the  letter  of  the 
Bible.  This  function  of  sacred  art  modern  painting 
is  beginning  to  fulfill;  and  then,  moreover,  there 
are  those  simpler  tastes,  that  more  refined  senti- 
ment, in  which  the  Bible,  since  it  came  to  be  more 
widely  circulated,  has  so  greatly  helped  to  educate 
the  general  mind;  and  thus  does  it  lend  its  stimu- 
lating aid  to  the  painter,  who  has  to  strive  to  pro- 
duce such  works  as  will  meet  this  improved  state 
of  things.  We  can  not  therefore  join  the  dilettante 
in  his  extravagant  regrets  about  the  eclipse  of 
painting  at  the  Beformation.  For  no  more  than 
is  the  sun  quenched  by  the  transit  shadow,  was 
the  glory  of  art  permanently  dimmed  when  the 
passing  obscuration  had  gone  by. 

It  is  no  doubt  true  that  the  Protestant  Church 
has  not  been,  and  never  can  be,  the  same  liberal 
patron  of  high  art  which  the  Catholic  Church  had 
proved  herself  to  be.  But  is  this  really  to  be  re- 
gretted? Is  the  Church  the  safest  patron  of  art? 
Does  her  patronage  leave  it  altogether  free?  For 
while  true  genius  will  not  bribe,  it  may  from  an 
over  devotedness  cease  to  be  independent.  The 
painter   must   work   like  other  men  for   his   daily 


288        LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

bread;  and  if  he  has  lost  his  most  liberal  paymas- 
ter in  losing  the  Church,  we  are  not  sure  but  that, 
after  a  season  of  struggle,  he  will  find  as  liberal 
purchasers,  who  will  cramp  him  less  in  his  choice 
of  subjects  than  did  the  priesthood;  while  his  devo- 
tion to  his  art,  as  such,  if  the  talent  is  in  him,  will 
in  the  long  end  make  him  more  purely  a  painter. 
To  be  thrown  upon  his  own  resources,  to  win  for 
his  art-works  the  appreciation  of  art-education,  must 
have  the  the  efiect  of  testing  what  is  in  him.  So 
that  in  course  of  time  there  will  be  little  cause  to 
regret  the  loss  of  Church  patronage.  The  public 
will  be  safer  patrons  in  the  end  than  the  priests. 

The  question  will  naturally  be  asked :  To  what 
extent  has  sacred  painting  contributed  to  illustrate 
the  meaning  of  Scripture?  Has  it  had  any  great 
exegetical  value?  To  this  question  we  feel  some 
measure  of  perplexity  what  answer  to  give.  The 
point  is  one  on  which  there  will  be  differences  of 
opinion.  For  our  own  parts,  we  rather  incline 
to  be  of  opinion  that  sacred  painting  has  not  to 
any  great  extent  elucidated  the  text  of  Scripture. 
Doubtless  there  are  certain  of  the  Bible  scenes  and 
characters,  of  which  one  can  not  fail  to  have  a  more 
vivid  and  larger  impression  after  having  looked  on 
the  pictorial  delineations  which  some  of  the  great 
masters  have  given  of  them.  We  confess  to  have 
felt  this  ourselves,  with  regard  to  the  Deluge,  the 
Nativity,  and  the  Descent  from  the  Cross,  when 
helped    by    the   representations   of    Poussin,    Rem- 


MODERN  PAINTING.  289 

brandt,  and  Kubens.  Still,  in  any  sucb  picture, 
all  we  can  have  is  the  individual  conception  of  the 
artist;  simply  his  rendering  or  interpretation  of  the 
Scriptural  idea,  which  may  be  wide  enough  of  the 
original  facts.  A  more  solemn  and  subduing  repre- 
sentation of  a  deluge  we  could  not  well  conceive 
than  Poussin  has  painted.  But,  then,  is  it  a  repre- 
sentation of  the  Noachian  Deluge?  Was  there  that 
solitary  serpent  trailing  up  the  rock  from  the  edge 
of  the  rising  flood?  Or  was  there  that  infant  child, 
which  seems  to  press  its  naked  foot  against  the  face 
of  that  other  rock,  as  if  to  assist  its  exhausted 
mother,  who,  erect  in  the  rocking  boat,  is  endeav- 
oring to  hand  up  this  weakling  to  its  father,  who 
has  gained  an  upper  ledge  ?  We  gazed,  awe-struck, 
as  upon  a  deluge;  still  the  question  came,  was  such 
the  deluge  which  the  Scriptures  record?  Nor  will 
it  deny  that  many  even  of  the  greatest  masters 
have  given  a  wider  license  to  their  fancy  than  the 
sobriety  of  the  subject  justified.  We  are  not  sure, 
therefore,  if  to  any  very  great  extent  the  Scrip- 
tures have  been  indebted  to  sacred  painting.  It  is 
not  the  less  true,  however,  on  this  account,  that 
painting  has  been  under  unspeakable  obligation  to 
the  Scriptures.  If  to  small  extent  they  have  been 
its  debtor,  to  a  very  large  extent  they  have  been 
its  benefactor.  For  have  we  not  seen  that  it  has 
supplied  the  artist  with  a  class  of  subjects,  which, 
though  he  might  not  be  able  to  treat  them  with 

literal  correctness  to  the  original,  did  call  forth  his 
25 


290         LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE  BIBLE. 

highest  powers,  and  stimulate  his  genius,  as  subjects 
of  another  class  or  style  would  not  have  done? 
Nor  have  our  great  masters  been  slow  to  own  this. 
They  have  shown  what  a  deep  hold  the  Bible  had 
taken  on  their  imaginations,  and  how,  more  than 
any  other  book,  they  found  it  replete  with  sug- 
gestive themes. 


MODERN   SCULPTURE   AND   MUSIC.  291 


CHAPTER    Y. 

THE  BIBLE  THE  PROMOTER  OF  LITERATURE  AND  THE 
ARTS— MODERN  SCULPTURE  AND  MUSIC. 

Less  perhaps  than  her  sister  arts,  Poetry  and 
Painting,  has  Sculpture  borrowed  her  subjects  from 
the  Bible.  One  reason  of  this  may  be  found  in 
the  nature  of  the  art  itself,  which  does  not  admit 
of  an  equal  range  of  subject  with  poetry  or  even 
painting.  Another  reason  may  have  been,  that  nu- 
merous specimens  of  ancient  statuary,  while  scarcely 
any  ancient  pictures,  have  been  handed  down  to  us; 
the  canvas  having  decayed  while  the  marble  has 
endured.  Hence  it  has  happened  that  whereas  the 
moderns  had  to  strike  out  a  new  path  for  them- 
selves in  painting,  in  sculpture  they  made  it  their 
ambition  rather  to  copy  the  classic  models. 

This  last  remark,  however,  does  not  apply  to  the 
earliest  sculptures  of  British  growth  which  time  has 
spared  us.  For  these  were  not  imitations  of  the 
classic  models,  but  are  essentially  Grothic,  with  noth- 
ing of  the  Grecian  in  their  form,  their  grouping,  or 
their  character.  As  works  of  art  these  betray  man- 
ifold defects  in  drawing,  anatomy,  and  composition. 
Yet  though  they  were  finished  before  the  birth  of 
Cimabue — the  Chaucer  of  art — they  exhibit  a  bold- 


292        LITERARY   ACHIEVEMENTS   OF    THE   BIBLE. 

ness  of  conception  and  an  irresistible  sentiment, 
whicli  are  not  always  to  be  found  in  more  modern 
productions.  And  how  are  we  to  account  for  this? 
whence  such  high  attributes  in  works  so  early?  It 
is  doubtless  owing  to  the  subjects  which  the  artists 
made  choice  of.  And  after  saying  this,  the  reader 
will  not  be  surprised  to  hear  that  these  subjects 
were  selected  from  the  Scriptures.  It  was  the 
themes  of  inspiration  which,  by  their  own  sublim- 
ity and  lofty  sentiment,  sustained  the  unskilled 
chisel  of  infant  art;  so  that  if  it  carved  but  rudely, 
yet  were  its  compositions  bold,  impressive,  and  ex- 
alted. Speaking  of  the  Cathedral  of  "Wells,  which 
was  built  by  Bishop  Joceline  in  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, Flaxman,  confessedly  a  competent  judge,  says, 
''The  west  front  of  this  church  equally  testifies  the 
piety  and  comprehension  of  the  Bishop's  mind.  The 
sculpture  presents  the  noblest,  most  useful,  and  in- 
teresting subjects  possible  to  be  chosen.  On  the 
south  side,  above  the  west  door,  are  alto-relievos  of 
the  creation,  in  its  different  parts,  together  with 
the  deluge,  and  important  acts  of  the  patriarchs. 
Companions  to  these,  on  the  north  side,  are  alto- 
relievos  of  the  principal  circumstances  in  the  life 
of  our  Savior.  Above  these  are  two  rows  of  stat- 
ues, larger  than  nature,  in  niches,  of  kings,  queens, 
and  nobles,  patrons  of  the  Church,  saints,  bishops, 
and  other  religious  persons,  from  its  first  founda- 
tion to  the  reign  of  Henry  the  Third.  Near  the 
pediment  is  our  Savior  come  to  judgment,  attended 


MODERN    SCULPTURE   AND   MUSIC.  293 

by  angelS;  and  the  twelve  apostles.  The  upper 
arches  on  each  side,  along  the  whole  of  the  west 
front,  and  continued  in  the  north  and  south  ends, 
are  occupied  by  figures  rising  from  their  graves, 
strongly  expressing  the  hope,  fear,  astonishment, 
stupefaction,  or  despair,  inspired  by  the  presence  of 
the  Lord  and  Judge  of  the  world  in  that  awful  mo- 
ment." With  regard  therefore  to  medieval  sculpture 
we  are  entitled  to  pronounce  that  whatever  of  ide- 
alistic merit  it  possesses  is  owing  to  the  Scriptures. 

I  have  said  that  it  was  too  much  the  ambition  of 
modern  sculptors  to  emulate  the  works  of  the  an- 
cient; when  emulation  would  often  degenerate  into 
mere  imitation — in  this  case  an  imitation  of  the 
Greeks'  dead  mythology  and  untranslatable  ideal. 
But  it  was  not  possible  that  true  genius  should  not 
at  times  aspire  to  originality.  And  the  remarkable 
fact  is,  that  when  the  great  masters  turned  aside 
from  the  classic  models,  to  strike  into  a  path  of 
their  own,  they  went  to  the  Scriptures  for  their 
subjects.  How  replete  with  the  spirit  and  mate- 
rials of  high  art  must  that  book  be,  of  which  it  is 
not  exaggeration  to  say  that  it  contributed  to  raise 
modern  sculpture  to  an  original  art. 

It  were  tedious  to  enumerate  all  the  eminent 
sculptors  who,  while  doing  homage  to  the  Bible, 
have  immortalized  their  own  fame.  Suffice  to  men- 
tion the  names  of  Ghiberti,  Donatello,  Angelo, 
Canova,  Thorwaldsen,  and  Flaxman.  So  long  as  an 
admiring  posterity  shall  repeat  the  praises  of  these 


294   LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

great  ornaments  of  modern  art,  to  Christianity  will 
belong  no  small  measure  of  the  applause;  for  it  was 
it  which  fired  them  with  the  noble  ambition  to  per- 
petuate, in  the  productions  of  their  chisel,  those 
images  of  grandeur  and  of  beauty  with  which  it 
had  filled  their  enraptured  vision.  The  during 
marble  is  at  once  a  monument  of  their  genius  and 
a  tribute  to  its  sublimer  inspiration.  And  it  is  in- 
deed a  marvelous  thing  in  the  history  of  art  that 
a  book,  great  part  of  which  was  written  long  before 
sculpture  was  known  even  in  Greece,  should,  cen- 
turies after  Greece  had  ceased  to  exist  as  a  nation, 
begin  to  make  its  influence  be  felt  on  the  genius 
and  the  taste  of  reviving  art. 

Michael  Angelo,  striving  to  excel  all  his  other 
efforts — not  excepting  among  these  his  Pieta — did 
well  to  consecrate  his  chisel  to  a  Scripture  theme; 
for  his  Moses  stands  forth  a  monument  of  statuary 
isolated  and  inimitable  by  the  peculiar  nature  of  its 
own  especial  sublimity.  And  Canova,  aspiring  to 
excel  in  the  pathetic  of  his  art,  did  also  well  to  go 
to  the  Bible  for  his  subject;  for  in  his  Repentant 
Magdalene  he  has  succeeded  in  carrying  the  expres- 
sion of  the  melting  and  the  soft  to  the  highest 
degree:  the  very  marble  seems  to  relax  under  the 
effect  of  penitence,  till  you  could  imagine  it  to  be 
no  cold  statue,  but  the  very  Mary  whose  gushing 
tears  bathed  the  feet  of  Him  who  had  forgiven  her. 
And  Thorwaldsen,  when  commissioned  to  execute  a 
work  worthy  to  be  set  up  in  his  native  city,  did 


MODERN   SCULPTURE   AND  MUSIC.  295 

also  well  to  select  a  Christian  theme;  for  so  long  as 
the  colossal  group  of  Christ  and  the  Apostles  adorns 
Copenhagen  it  may  boast  the  possession  of  the 
masterpiece  of  its  illustrious  son.  And  Flaxman, 
who  of  all  our  Biblical  sculptors  is  admitted  to 
have  had  the  loftiest  genius,  did  also  well  to  conse- 
crate his  chisel  to  designs  from  Scripture,  for  by 
none  other  of  his  works  has  this  artist  so  immor- 
talized his  name.  What  was  it  led  these  great 
masters  of  statuary  to  the  Bible  for  the  subjects  of 
their  highest  efforts?  We  reply  it  was  the  same 
which  had  led  the  great  masters  of  painting  also 
to  the  Bible  for  their  loftier  subjects — the  instinct 
of  their  genius.  To  the  volume  of  inspiration  they 
were  drawn  by  that  instinctive  homage  which  true 
greatness  is  ever  inclined  to  pay  to  greatness.  In 
them  was  the  power  to  embody  in  visible  forms 
the  grand  ideal  of  beauty  and  sublimity.  And 
where  were  they  to  find  that  ideal?  Their  genius, 
laboring  in  vain  to  find  it  elsewhere,  sought  it  and 
found  it  in  the  Bible.  I^or  is  this  strange.  The 
Bible  is  not  a  book  on  art;  but  its  author  is  that 
Divine  artist  who  has  chiseled  with  his  own  infinite, 
matchless  skill  the  statuary  of  nature — the  grand, 
the  beautiful,  the  sublime  ornaments  which  adorn 
the  temple  of  the  universe. 

We  hear  a  great  deal  of  the  immense  superiority 
of  ancient  over  modern  sculpture,  and  in  one  respect 
it  was  immensely  superior;  for  in  the  delineation 
of  form  the  Greek  sculptors  have  been  but  remotely 


296    LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

approached  by  the  moderns.  They  had  acquired 
the  seemingly-lost  art  of  chiseling  in  marble  the 
perfect  idealization  of  beauty;  but  then  it  was  for 
the  most  part  merely  physical  beauty.  And  wnen 
they  essayed  the  representation  of  the  passions,  they 
generally  confined  themselves  to  those  which  we  are 
apt  to  consider  among  the  lowest  of  our  nature. 
Pure  sentiment  they  rarely  thought  of  sculpturing. 
You  meet  with  the  statue  of  a  dying  gladiator  or 
the  group  of  a  Laocoon,  but  never  with  a  statue  of 
Philanthrophy,  or  Patience,  or  Mercy.  Their  Graces 
were  not  Faith,  Hope,  Charity,  but  merely  three 
beautiful  females  who  attended  the  voluptuous  god- 
dess of  love.  Now  mere  form,  however  poetical  its 
idealization,  addresses  itself  only  to  the  lower  or 
sensuous  faculties  of  our  nature,  whereas  sentiment 
appeals  to  the  higher  emotions  of  the  soul,  and  stirs 
the  better  feelings  of  the  heart.  The  sculptors  of 
the  Renaissance  followed  the  example  of  the  Greeks 
and  Romans  to  a  considerable  extent,  combining 
with  it,  however,  in  some  of  their  works,  a  more 
elevated  and  a  purer  moral  feeling.  Those  of  our 
own  time  have  advanced  still  further  the  latter 
qualities;  while  bearing  in  mind  that  beauty  of 
form  constitutes  the  highest  charm  of  sculpture,  so 
far  as  the  eye  is  addressed,  they  rightly  assume 
that  it  is  also  capable,  by  the  representation  of 
sentiment,  of  eliciting  the  best  sympathies  of  the 
heart.  And  in  this,  the  nobler  function  of  high  art, 
we  venture  to  be  of  opinion  that  the  modern  sculp- 


MODERN   SCULPTURE   AND   MUSIC.  297 

tors  excel  the  ancient.  It  may  not  be  theirs  to 
chisel  the  marble  into  forms  so  exquisitely  beauti- 
ful, yet  do  they  breathe  into  it,  cold  stone  as  it  is, 
more  of  pure  sentiment  and  warm  feeling.  Their 
statuary  may  not  so  please  the  eye,  but  it  more 
directly  touches  the  heart.  If  one  is  less  enchanted 
as  he  gazes,  the  fault  is  in  his  own  heart  if  he  is  not 
more  softened  and  subdued. 

In  proof  of  this  assertion,  I  venture  to  instance 
the  "Suppliant,"  by  Weekes.  The  sentiment  of 
this  group  is  a  direct  appeal  to  the  holiest  of  moral 
virtues,  charity.  The  mother,  pleading  less  for  her- 
self than  her  young  child  which  hangs  so  helpless 
on  her  arm,  goes  at  once  to  the  heart.  Not  equal 
to  this,  perhaps,  as  a  piece  of  sculpture,  I  would 
instance  "Innocence — the  Dove,"  by  Spence.  "We 
very  much  question  whether  the  idea  of  represent- 
ing innocence  would  even  have  entered  the  mind  of 
a  Greek  sculptor;  and  we  more  than  question  if  he 
would  have  represented  it  with  so  simple  and  touch- 
ing sentiment. 

It  does  not  need,  however,  that  we  draw  a  com- 
parison between  the  moderns  and  the  ancients  in  our 
attempt  to  illustrate  the  services  which  the  Bible 
has  rendered  to  art;  for  the  question  we  have  to 
do  with  is  not  whether  Phidias  was  a  greater  sculp- 
tor than  Angelo,  or  Praxiteles  than  Canova;  but 
the  question  is  this,  Whether  Angelo  and  Canova 
would  have  been  the  great  sculptors  they  are,  ex- 
cept for  the  elevating  effect  of  Christianity  on  their 


298        LITERARY   ACHIEVEMENTS   OF  THE  BIBLE. 

genius?  and  whether  Phidias  and  Praxiteles  would 
not  have  been  still  greater  sculptors  than  they 
were,  had  their  genius  been  sanctified  by  that  book 
which  alone  reveals  the  truly  fair  and  truly  good? 
Nature  made  the  Greeks  great  sculptors  without 
the  Bible,  but  with  its  aid  would  they  not  have 
been  still  greater?  Nature  has  not  made  the  mod- 
erns their  equals;  but  would  they  have  come  so 
near  to  an  equality  if,  along  with  Nature,  they  had 
not  had  the  aid  of  the  Bible? 

MODERN   MUSIC   HAS  BEEN   GREATLY   INDEBTED   TO  THE   BIBLE. 

How  far,  or  whether  to  any  extent,  the  New 
Testament  sanctions  the  use  of  instrumental  music 
in  public  worship,  is  a  question  upon  which  opinion 
is  divided;  but  there  can  be  no  difference  of  opin- 
ion that  it  enjoins  vocal  psalmody.  Accordingly  it 
has  been  the  immemorial  practice  of  the  Christian 
Church  to  make  "  the  voice  of  praise"  a  part  of  its 
religious  service;  and  to  such  practice  is  doubtless 
owing  the  high  advancement  to  which  the  art  of 
music  has  reached,  as  well  as  the  spread  of  a  taste 
for  it  among  the  common  people.  In  many  parts 
of  Scotland  the  very  peasantry  may  be  heard  pour- 
ing forth  the  natural  eloquence  of  music  in  some  of 
our  national  psalm-tunes: 

"  They  chant  their  artless  notes  in  simple  guise  ; 

They  tune  their  hearts — by  far  the  noblest  aim : 
Perhaps  Dundee's  wild-warbling  measures  rise, 

Or  plaintive  Martyrs — worthy  of  the  name — 
Or  noble  Elgin  beats  the  heavenward  flame, 

The  sweetest  far  of  Scotio's  holy  lays." 


MODERN   SCULPTURE  AND   MUSIC.  299 

Sacred  to  our  hearths,  and  still  more  sacred  in  the 
history  of  our  persecuted  forefathers,  when  on  moor- 
land or  mountain-side  these  plaintive  melodies  would 
mingle  with  the  winds  of  heaven  and  the  curlew's 
note  in  the  sky-arched  temple,  to  which  lyart  war- 
riors and  delicate  maidens  were  driven  forth  to 
worship  God — how  dear  to  Scotland  are  her  old 
national  psalm-tunes,  which,  human  compositions 
though  they  be,  are  worthy  to  have  been  wedded 
to  the  words  of  inspired  song! 

In  its  higher  forms,  music,  not  less  than  poetry, 
and  in  the  same  way,  has  been  indebted  to  the 
Bible,  since  from  it  have  been  borrowed  the  sub- 
jects of  the  magnificent  oratorios  of  our  greatest 
composers.  These  masters  of  symphony  could  find 
nowhere,  except  in  the  Bible,  adequate  themes  in 
which  to  discourse  their  matchless  melodies.  The 
soul  of  music  seemed  to  be  straitened,  its  voice  but 
as  a  broken  utterance,  till  at  length,  finding  expres- 
sion in  Scriptural  themes,  and  almost  in  the  very 
words  of  Scripture,  it  broke  forth  from  the  lips  of  a 
Handel,  a  Mozart,  a  Haydn,  and  a  Beethoven,  into 
those  immortal  oratorios — Creation,  Samson,  Elijah, 
The  Messiah,  The  Mount  of  Olives. 

Now  at  length  had  the  genius  of  music  found 
her  voice,  and  as  she  pours  forth  her  solemn  sym- 
phonies, they  seem  to  repeat  the  echoes  of  those 
lyric  strains  which  mingled  with  the  sound  of  the 
returning  waves  of  Egypt's  divided  sea;  or  the 
echoes  of  those  sublime  choral  melodies  which  woke 


300        LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

the  arches  of  Zion's  temple.  And  while  we  would 
not  be  thought  to  approve  of  the  sacred  oratorio 
being  employed  as  a  means  of  mere  amusement, 
yet,  were  fitting  occasions  sought — such  as  seasons 
of  national  thanksgiving,  when  the  people  in  these 
lands  might  listen  to  its  soul-subduing  peals — few 
things,  in  our  opinion,  would  contribute  more  to 
elevate  their  tastes  and  enliven  their  devotion. 

There  is  still  another  branch  of  the  arts,  namely, 
Architecture,  regarding  which,  in  its  connection 
with  the  Bible,  a  few  words  may  be  said.  We  do 
not  assign  to  it  a  section  by  itself,  because  it  can 
scarcely  be  said  of  it  that  it  has  borrowed  its  de- 
signs, as  painting  and  sculpture  have  their  subjects, 
from  the  Bible.  There  is,  no  doubt,  to  be  found  in 
the  sacred  writings,  a  description  of  perhaps  the 
most  stupendous  and  gorgeous  Temple  that  was  ever 
reared  by  the  hands  of  man — at  any  rate,  the  most 
stupendous  and  gorgeous  ever  erected  for  the  wor- 
ship of  the  true  God.  Yet  it  can  scarcely  with 
truth  be  said  that  this  Temple  has  served  as  a 
model,  at  least  we  are  not  aware  of  any  ecclesias- 
tical edifice  having  been  built  after  its  pattern. 
Shall  we  not  rather  suppose  that,  having  been  the 
only  ancient  temple  consecrated  to  the  worship  of 
the  true  God,  it  was  intended  to  be  unique;  and 
that  having  belonged  to  an  economy  which  was  to 
pass  away,  it  was  decreed  by  Providence  to  destruc- 
tion, that  no  copies  might  be  taken  of  it  for  the 


MODERN   SCULPTURE   AND  MUSIC.  301 

temples  of  Christianity?  Still  we  make  no  doubt 
that  the  Temple  of  Solomon  must  have  given  an 
impulse  to  architecture. 

It  would  seem  that  the  Emperor  Justinian  was 
fired  with  an  ambition  that  Constantinople  in  its 
temple  should  rival  Jerusalem;  for  it  is  recorded 
of  him,  that  in  his  admiration  of  the  magnificent 
temple  of  Santa  Sophia,  which  at  immense  expense 
he  had  rebuilt,  he  exclaimed,  ''I  have  vanquished 
thee,  0  Solomon!"  The  boast  was,  no  doubt,  a  vain- 
glorious one,  yet  it  shows  on  what  the  thoughts  of 
the  imperial  architect  had  been  dwelling. 


302        LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 


CHAPTER    YI. 

THE  BIBLE  THE  PROMOTER  OF  LITERATURE  AND  THE 
ARTS— MODERN  GENERAL  LITERATURE. 

This  is  a  wide,  and  also  a  somewhat  intricate 
field,  for  the  effect  which  the  Bible  has  exerted  on 
our  general  literature  is  the  resultant  of  many  com- 
plex influences  which  it  would  not  be  easy  to  specify 
separately,  and  likewise  of  secret  influences  which 
it  were  often  difficult  to  make  apparent.  You  can 
tell  that  the  dew-drops,  which  moisten  the  breath 
of  morning,  assist  to  tinge  the  rose-bud  with  its 
blushing  hues;  but  then  these  drops  fell  on  each 
leaf  so  silently,  and  were  so  speedily  absorbed  by  it, 
that  they  may  be  said  to  hide  themselves  beneath 
the  very  colors  which  they  had  helped  to  dye. 
And  so  it  has  been  with  the  Bible  in  its  effects  on 
our  general  literature.  Not  with  herald-sound,  but 
silent  as  the  dewy  drops,  it  has  insinuated  itself 
into  many  pages,  whose  writers  were  scarcely  aware 
of  its  presence.  They  breathed  its  spirit  without 
knowing  it,  for  it  had  folded  them  round  as  the 
atmospheric  air,  which  one  inhales  without  think- 
ing of  it. 

I  shall  not,  therefore,  attempt  any  thing  like  a 
full    enumeration  of  the  services  which  the  Bible 


MODERN   GENERAL   LITERATURE.  303 

has  rendered  to  modern  literature,  but  will  content 
myself  with  offering  a  few  general  indications. 

(1.)  There  is  the  effect  which  the  Bible  has  had 
in  molding  and  enriching  our  language. 

In  one  of  his  exquisite  papers,  Addison  makes  the 
following  observation:  "There  is  a  certain  coldness 
and  indifference  in  the  phrases  of  our  European  lan- 
guages, when  they  are  compared  with  the  Oriental 
forms  of  speech;  and  it  happens  very  luckily  that 
the  Hebrew  idioms  run  into  the  English  tongue 
with  a  particular  grace  and  beauty.  Our  language 
has  received  innumerable  elegancies  and  improve- 
ments from  that  infusion  of  Hebraisms  which  are 
derived  to  it  out  of  the  poetical  passages  of  Holy 
Writ.  They  give  a  force  and  energy  to  our  expres- 
sion, warm  and  animate  our  language,  and  convey 
our  thoughts  in  more  ardent  and  intense  phrases, 
than  any  that  are  to  be  met  with  in  our  own 
tongue."  Since  Addison's  time,  the  number  of 
these  Hebraisms  imported  into  our  language  has 
been  greatly  increased,  while  many  similar  forms 
of  expression  have  been  imitated  from  them.  And 
it  is  amazing  how  much  they  have  helped  to  warm 
our  colder  northern  dialect  with  somewhat  of  Ori- 
ental ardor;  and  without  taking  from  its  native 
robustness,  have  entwined  the  Saxon  oak  of  our 
language  with  the  more  graceful  foliation  of  East- 
ern exotics.  There  are  current  in  our  literature 
innumerable  phrases  of  great  felicity,  which  were 


304   LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

at  first  peculiar  to  the  poets,  but  have  now  found 
their  way  into  our  prose,  all  of  which  have  dis- 
tinctly a  Hebrew  origin.  The  following  may  serve 
as  specimens:  The  wings  of  the  wind — hence, 
winged  words,  etc.;  the  chambers  of  the  East;  the 
chariot  clouds;  a  voice  of  thunder;  the  hosts  of 
heaven;  a  fiery  eye;  tongues  of  flame — hence,  burn- 
ing words;  thick  darkness;  the  face  of  the  deep — 
hence,  the  face  of  the  sky,  etc. ;  the  breath  of  morn ; 
the  break  of  day ;  the  fountain  of  life ;  living  waters ; 
to  drink  of  immortality;  the  sting  of  death;  hearts 
of  stone. 

But  it  is  the  vernacular  translation  of  the  Bible 
which  has  told  most  on  the  English  language.  And 
we  take  it  to  be  a  singular  phenomenon  in  the  his- 
tory of  literature,  that  a  book  written  in  a  foreign 
tongue,  and  at  a  remote  age,  should  have  exerted  a 
mighty  influence  in  molding  and  fixing  one  of  the 
languages  into  which  it  has  been  translated.  Per- 
haps it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  authorized 
version  of  the  Scriptures  has  contributed  more  than 
the  writings  of  any  native  author,  prior  at  least  to 
the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century,  to  improve  the 
English  language.  As  a  specimen  of  Anglo-Saxon, 
it  is  the  purest  in  the  world.  An  American  writer 
has  justly  observed,  ''  Our  translators  have  not  only 
made  a  standard  translation,  but  they  have  made 
their  translation  the  standard  of  our  language.  The 
English  tongue  in  their  day  was  not  equal  to  such 
a  work.     But  God  enabled  them  to  stand  as  upon 


MODERN  GENERAL   LITERATURE.  305 

Mount  Sinai,  and  crane  up  their  country's  language 
to  the  dignity  of  the  originals;  so  that  after  the 
lapse  of  two  hundred  years,  the  English  Bible,  with 
very  few  exceptions,  is  the  standard  of  the  purity 
and  excellence  of  the  English  tongue." 

Now  let  it  be  remembered  that  this  book,  more 
than  any  other,  has  been  in  the  hands  of  the  peo- 
ple; which  is  to  say,  the  best  specimen  of  the  lan- 
guage has  been  the  most  extensively  read.  The 
effect  which  this  must  have  had  in  improving  the 
popular  style,  can  not  easily  be  overestimated.  We 
can  not  help  being  of  the  opinion  that  many  a  peas- 
ant in  our  rural  districts,  and  many  an  artisan  in 
our  cities,  who  without  much  school  instruction 
have  been  able  to  write  a  letter  in  passable  En- 
glish, owed  it  very  much  to  their  perusal  of  the 
Bible.  And  to  the  same  cause  we  should  be  dis- 
posed very  much  to  attribute  the  singularly-terse, 
idiomatic,  and  clear  style  of  the  more  popular  of 
our  self-taught  authors;  such  men,  for  example,  as 
John  Bunyan,  Robert  Burns,  and  Hugh  Miller. 
Take  the  Pilgrims  Progress— jo\x  have  here  a 
work  which  lettered  criticism  for  long  would  not 
deign  to  notice,  which  even  the  gentle  and  generous 
Cowper  might  not  venture  to  name,  when  awarding 
to  it  a  meed  of  stealthy  praise,  and  this  because  it 
haippened  not  to  be  the  production  of  an  academic; 
but  which  now  our  most  fastidious  critics,  a  Southey 
and  a  Macaulay,  have  openly  pronounced  to  be  the 

finest  allegory  in  our  own,  or  any  language.     You 

26 


306    LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

can  not  read  many  pages  of  the  book  without  dis- 
covering where  its  unlettered  author  had  learned  his 
style;  that  it  was  at  that  ''pure  well  of  English 
undefiled" — the  authorized  version  of  the  Bible. 
On  its  model  certainly  he  formed  his  style — Saxon 
to  the  backbone,  clear  as  any  running  brook,  and 
terse  as  a  proverb. 

(2.)  The  influence  which  the  Scriptures  have  had 
on  the  national  mind,  and  hence  refiexively,  which 
they  have  exerted  on  the  national  literature. 

The  art  of  printing  might  be  said  to  have  given 
wings  to  the  human  mind.  For  the  great  thoughts 
which  lay  immured  on  musty  parchments,  in  crypt 
and  cloister,  or  in  the  libraries  of  the  rich,  flew 
over  the  land,  when  these  manuscripts  were  multi- 
plied into  thousands  of  printed  volumes.  Now  it 
is  a  singular  fact  that,  so  far  as  is  known,  the  first 
book  which  issued  from  the  printing-press  was  the 
Bible.  It  came  like  a  rush  of  wind  on  a  stagnant 
age;  sounded  as  a  night  cry  in  the  ear  of  a  sleep- 
ing nation;  or  we  might  say  rather,  like  an  arch- 
angel's trump  at  the  opening  graves  of  a  buried 
world.  Liberty  started  to  its  feet  at  the  sound. 
Intellect  shook  off  its  slumber.  Personal  conscience 
asserted  its  right  to  question,  and  private  judgment 
its  right  to  inquire.  And  henceforth  the  national 
literature,  if  it  was  to  gain  acceptance  with  the 
public  mind,  must  partake  of  the  new  life  which 
had  begun  to  pulse  in  the  veins  of  the  nations. 


MODERN   GENERAL   LITERATURE.  307 

There  are  two  facts  noticeable  about  this  time, 
which  are  surely  significant:  the  first,  that  the  rise 
of  English  poetry,  the  second,  that  the  birth  in 
England  of  the  Baconian  philosophy,  were  nearly 
cotemporaneous  with  the  restoration  of  the  Scrip- 
tures to  the  people  in  their  native  tongue.  The 
genius  of  science  and  the  genius  of  song  slept  in 
our  land  till  the  influence  of  a  difi*used  Bible  awoke 
them.  And  if  the  successors  of  Bacon,  first  prophet 
of  English  philosophy,  and  of  Spenser,  first  high- 
priest  of  English  poetry — if  these,  whether  they 
too  are  also  prophets  and  priests,  or  only  Levites 
of  the  temple,  must  take  care  to  feed  its  lamps  with 
beaten  oil;  or  with  a  science  and  a  literature  such 
as  is  worthy  the  acceptance  of  a  free,  an  educated, 
a  reading,  a  thinking  people — it  is  not  too  much  to 
say  that  this  is  owing  to  the  English  Bible. 

(3.)  The  contributions  w^hich  the  Bible  has  made 
to  the  general  stock  of  ideas,  which  our  authors 
have  worked  up  along  with  their  own. 

It  is  in  the  nature  of  literature  to  absorb  into 
itself  and,  in  new  forms,  to  reproduce  whatever,  at 
its  several  epochs,  it  finds  of  existent  beauty,  truth, 
and  goodness.  To  it  especially  applies  the  language 
of  our  great  poet : 

"  Finds  tongues  in  trees,  books  in  the  running  brooks, 
Sermons  in  stones,  and  good  in  every  thing." 

Now  here  is  a  volume  which,  more  than  all  trees, 
than  all  running  brooks,  than  all  stones,  than  every 


308        LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

thing  beside,  contains  in  it  materials  for  the  alche- 
my of  literature  to  transform  into  its  own  pro- 
ductions. For  there  are  in  it  the  seeds  of  great 
thoughts,  the  outlines  of  high  imaginings,  the  fore- 
shadows of  a  mighty  progress,  the  elements  of  per- 
ennial meditations.  And  what  has  our  higher  lit- 
erature been  doing  during  these  three  centuries 
but  reproducing  one  or  other  of  these?  For  wnat 
spring  was  left  to  it  to  drink  at  with  which  the 
Bible  had  not  mingled?  "What  seeding  thoughts 
were  left  for  it  to  sow  which  the  Bible  had  not 
impregnated?  What  images  of  truth,  or  beauty,  or 
sublimity  remained  to  be  portrayed  which  the  Bible 
Lad  not  adumbrated  ?  What  mine  of  wisdom  could 
it  work  where  the  Bible  had  not  sunk  th#  shaft? 
What  line  of  progression  has  it  pursued  where  the 
Bible  had  not  marked  the  starting  point  and  indi- 
cated the  goal?  So  much  is  this  the  case,  that  if 
there  is  turned  up  to  us,  on  some  page  of  any  of 
our  greatest  writers,  a  finer  passage  in  which  the 
thoughts  breathe  and  the  words  burn,  we  shall  un- 
dertake to  show  that  the  breath  which  first  vivified 
these  thoughts,  and  the  fire  which  kindled  these 
words,  came  from  the  Bible. 

(4.)  The  authorship  of  which  the  Scriptures  them- 
selves have  been  the  subject. 

A   book   about  which   a  thousandfold   more  has 
be^n  written  than    all  other  books  put   together — 


MODERN   GENERAL   LITERATURE.  309 

whicli  has  called  forth  the  pens  of  friends  and 
foes — which  has  supplied  the  pulpit  with  its  weekly- 
themes  for  now  these  eighteen  centuries — which  has 
been  the  subject  of  professorial  prelections  and  the 
theme  of  many  poems  and  an  innumerable  number 
of  prose  compositions,  such  a  book  could  not  fail 
to  have  enriched  our  literature  with  some  of  its 
choicest  performances.  What  scholarship,  for  in- 
stance, is  more  masculine  than  that  which  has  been 
devoted  to  a  defense  of  the  Divine  origin  and  in- 
spiration of  the  sacred  volume,  when  the  subtilties 
of  a  Hume,  the  coarse  vituperations  of  a  Paine,  the 
flippant  satire  of  a  Voltaire,  the  polished  insinua- 
tions of  a  Gibbon,  the  sonorous  levity  and  assump- 
tions disparagement  of  a  Shaftesbury,  the  rambling 
yet  lively  declamations  of  a  Bolingbroke,  the  cow- 
ardly sneers  of  a  Collins,  the  low  ridicule  and  vul- 
gar contempt  of  a  "VVoolston,  the  more  temperate 
plausibilities  of  a  Tindal,  and  the  mathematics  of  a 
La  Place,  called  forth  the  pens  of  a  Clarke,  a  Wat- 
son, a  West,  a  Leland,  a  Leslie,  a  Campbell,  a  Hall, 
and  a  Chalmers?  Or  what  erudition  is  more  ripe 
and  multifarious  than  that  which  has  been  conse- 
crated to  the  exegesis  of  the  text  and  the  elucida- 
tion of  the  doctrines  of  the  Bible?  Or  what  speci- 
mens of  eloquence  will  surpass  some  of  those  which 
have  been  written  to  enforce  its  sublime  and  pure 
morality?  Take  from  our  literature  those  portions 
of  which  the  Bible  itself  has  been  the  subject,  and 
what  a  gap  would  be  made !     We  should  miss  some 


810    LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

of  the  finest  productions  of  the  ablest  and  most  ac- 
complished writers  of  which  our  country  can  boast. 
Nor  have  we  any  right  to  assume  that  their  rare 
and  peculiar  talents  would  have  been  drawn  out  so 
shiningly  by  any  other  subject. 

(5.)  The  direct  influence  of  the  Scriptures  on  our 
religious,  and  their  indirect  influence  on  our  profane 
literature. 

With  regard  to  our  religious  literature,  it  is  al- 
most superfluous  to  say  that  to  the  Bible  it  owes, 
not  merely  its  fullness,  its  strength,  its  beauty,  and 
impressiveness,  but  also  its  very  existence.  But 
for  this  perennial  fountain,  which  seems  only  to  in- 
crease the  oftener  it  is  drawn  from,  the  streams  of 
our  sacred  literature  could  not  have  so  copiously 
flowed.  But  now  how  rich  and  varied  are  these 
streams  to  instruct  the  ignorant,  to  cheer  the  dis- 
consolate, to  gladden  the  solitary,  to  comfort  the  sick 
and  the  dying.  Surely  they  have  earned  a  claim 
to  our  warmest  gratitude,  those  gifted  authors  who, 
by  the  consecration  of  their  talents  to  such  purposes 
as  these,  have  proved  themselves  the  true  benefac- 
tors of  their  kind.  If  not  theirs  to  shine  the 
brightest  in  the  temple  of  f;\me,  yet  doth  not  phi- 
losophy nor  science  weave  a  chaplet  of  so  hallowed 
a  renown  for  the  brows  of  their  most  illustrious. 
To  have  produced  works  which  have  been  a  light 
in  the  dwelling,  and  as  wells  of  water  in  the  desert 


MODERN   GENERAL   LITERATURE.  311 

to  a  thirsty  soul — whicti  have  shortened  life's  road 
to  the  wayworn  pilgrim,  and  smoothed  the  pillows 
of  the  dying — this  is  a  praise  which  the  greatest 
philosopher  might  covet.  But  how  much  higher 
praise,  then,  is  due  to  that  book  whose  light  these 
authors  have  borrowed  and  but  faintly  reflect !  As 
planets  in  the  spiritual  firmament  we  hail  their 
beams,  and  are  grateful.  Yet  are  they  not  its  pole- 
star,  much  less  its  sun.  Bound  it,  yet  at  how 
great  a  distance,  they  shine,  the  satellites  only  of 
the  central  orb — that  Book  of  books  which  is  the 
fontal  source  of  all  wisdom,  the  quenchless  altar 
of  devoutest  thoughts,  the  fullest,  fairest,  divinest 
image  of  truth,  purity,  and  goodness. 

With  regard  to  our  profane  literature,  I  will  not 
deny  that  a  large  portion  of  it  is  trifling  and  im- 
moral; but  the  Bible  is  not  answerable  for  this. 
Even  if  the  authors  of  these  vile  productions  have 
borrowed  from  it  beauties  which  give  a  seductive- 
ness to  their  writings  and  render  them  more  dan- 
gerous, it  is  not  to  be  blamed,  but  only  they  who 
have  had  the  audacity  to  profane  its  purity  to  their 
own  impure  purposes.  The  hemlock  distils  the  sun- 
beams into  a  virulent  poison;  but  there  is  no  poison 
in  the  sun. 

But  even  in  the  case  of  immoral  literature,  the 
restraining  influence  of  the  Bible,  though,  of  course, 
not  confessed,  is  plainly  to  be  seen.  For  writers 
who,  had  they  lived  in  pagan  lands,  would  have 
been    undisguisedly   obscene,    are    fain    to    drop   a 


312    LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

vail — though  often  it  may  be  too  thin — over  their 
obscenities;  for  in  these  lands  the  Bible  is  a  house- 
hold book,  and  vice  dares  not  appear  entirely  nude 
in  the  presence  of  celestial  virtue. 


LETTERS  AND  ARTS  RESTORED.        313 


CHAPTER  YII. 

THE  BIBLE  THE  RESTORER  OF  LETTERS  AND  THE 

ARTS— WHEN  EUROPE  HAD  FALLEN  BACK 

INTO  MILITARY  BARBARISM. 

The  decline  and  fall  of  Roman  literature  and  art 
forms  a  curious  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  human 
mind.  For  while  the  Romans  were  diffusing  a  taste 
for  letters  and  the  arts  of  civilized  life  over  the  dis- 
tant provinces,  those  letters  and  those  arts  were 
rapidly  verging  to  decline  within  the  confines  of 
Italy,  and  even  within  the  walls  of  the  capital.  Of 
the  causes  which  led  to  this  decline  our  subject 
would  not  have  required  us  to  speak,  were  it  not 
that  certain  historians  have  included  among  them 
the  introduction  into  Italy  of  the  new  religion,  or 
Christianity. 

"We  are  free  to  confess  that,  on  its  first  entrance 
into  the  seats  of  classic  literature  and  art,  Chris- 
tianity did  not  assist  to  foster  them.  Nor,  in  the 
nature  of  things,  could  it  have  been  expected  to  do 
so.  For  if  we  compare,  or  rather  contrast  the  two 
religions,  we  find  the  old,  with  its  gods  many,  its 
innumerable  idols,  its  fabulous  mythologies,  its  gor- 
geous temples,  its  sacerdotal  hierarchy;    while,  on 

the  contrary,  the  new  religion  taught  the  existence 

27 


314       LITERARY   ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

of  but  one  God,  had  no  idols,  was  witliout  a  priest- 
hood, affected  none  of  the  pomp  of  circumstance, 
but  studied  simplicity,  almost  to  bareness,  in  its 
ritual.  Now,  as  the  literature  and  the  arts  of  a 
people  uniformly  reflect  the  spirit,  and  to  a  great 
extent  the  very  forms  of  their  religion,  it  must  at 
once  be  seen  that  not  more  diverse  were  the  two 
literatures,  that  of  Italy  and  Palestine,  than  were 
the  two  religions,  paganism  and  Christianity.  Nei- 
ther could  meet,  the  literatures  nor  the  religions, 
without  in  the  first  instance  conflicting.  Then  it  is 
well  known  that  to  adorn  and  uphold  paganism, 
pagan  literature  and  art  had  very  greatly  contrib- 
uted. These  had  popularized  it.  For  the  initiated, 
the  priest  and  philosophers  expounded  its  esoteric 
mysteries;  for  the  multitude,  the  poet,  the  painter, 
and  the  sculptor  embodied  its  exoteric  dogmas.  The 
sculptor  chiseled  its  idols.  The  painter  delineated 
its  mythology,  which  the  poet  had  invented.  Arch- 
itecture adorned  its  shrines,  while  music  gave  vocal 
effect  to  its  ceremonial.  And  while  thus  the  arts 
served  to  popularize  paganism,  they  also  clothed  it 
in  those  sesthetical  forms  which  are  calculated  to 
fascinate  men  of  ardent  sensibilities  and  refined 
taste.  It  is  not,  then,  to  be  wondered  at  if  the 
abuse  of  letters  and  the  arts  by  the  pagans  filled 
the  early  Christians  with  a  distaste  for  letters  and 
the  arts  themselves.  For  men  do  not  always  dis- 
criminate between  the  lawful  utility  and  the  unlaw- 
ful abuse  of  a  thing.     In  condemning  the  latter, 


LETTERS  AND  ARTS  RESTORED.        315 

there  is  a  risk  tliat  in  the  first  instance  they  over- 
look the  former. 

But  even  if  the  early  Christians  had  shown  them- 
selves more  hostile  to  pagan  literature  than  they 
did,  this  would  not  warrant  the  inference  that 
Christianity  itself  then  held  polite  learning  in  dis- 
favor, any  more  than  it  would  be  true  to  say  that 
the  Bible  has  hindered  the  progress  of  modern  art, 
because  some  weak  Christians  have  denounced  sacred 
sculpture  and  painting. 

Any  one  who  will  take  the  trouble  to  trace  the 
first  decline  of  Latin  literature  will  find  that  this 
decline  can  not  be  ascribed  to  the  introduction  of 
Christianity  into  Italy;  since,  Boman  writers  them- 
selves being  the  judges,  it  had  commenced  previous 
to  that  event.  Cicero's  "Tusculan  Epistles"  were 
penned  before  any  Christian  apostle  had  visited  the 
Italian  shores.  Yet  in  these  letters  the  great  Eoman 
orator  plainly  indicates  that  he  was  not  unconscious 
of  the  operation  of  those  causes  which  in  his  time 
had  secretly  begun  to  corrupt  the  genius  of  Boman 
eloquence.  "In  this  very  faculty,"  he  says,  "in 
which  we  have  advanced  from  the  most  imperfect 
beginnings  to  the  highest  excellence,  we  may,  as  in 
all  human  things,  soon  expect  to  see  symptoms  of 
decrepitude  and  the  process  of  decay."  The  prog- 
ress of  events  hastened  that  decay  more  rapidly 
than  Cicero  could  have  anticipated.  For  what  he 
foresaw  as  to  happen  probably  some  centuries  hence. 


316   LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

had  become  matter  of  actual  observation  ere  yet  the 
first  apostles  of  Christianity  had  set  foot  on  the 
coasts  of  Italy.  It  were,  therefore,  an  anachronism 
in  history  to  ascribe  the  decadence  of  its  literature 
to  an  event  which  was  of  a  later  date;  and  no  less 
a  solecism  in  philosophy  to  call  that  the  cause  which 
was  subsequent  to  the  effect. 

It  would  seem  to  be  a  conditional  law  of  develop- 
ment, whether  physical  or  mental,  that  a  precocious 
growth  is  followed  by  premature  decay.  And  in 
this  law,  cooperating  with  certain  social  influences 
which  intensified  its  action,  we  are  inclined  to  seek 
for  the  primary  cause  of  the  rapid  decline  of  Koman 
literature.  That  its  rise  was  rapid,  any  one  ac- 
quainted with  Roman  history  mus.t  be  aware.  How 
that  almost  at  a  bound  it  gained  its  altitude;  was 
in  its  zenith  almost  as  soon  as  it  had  touched  the 
horizon ;  shot  up  with  scarcely  a  twilight  to  the  full 
noon  of  its  splendors;  passed  at  once  from  its  in- 
fancy to  manhood.  During  five  centuries  Rome  had 
devoted  herself  entirely  to  war;  for  not  till  after 
the  conquest  of  Tarentum  was  the  harp  heard  above 
the  din  of  arms  in  the  destined  capital  of  the  world. 
Within  half  a  century  of  this  non-literary  period 
appeared  Ennius — justly  regarded  as  the  father  of 
Latin  poetry — Plautus,  and  Terence.  Half  a  cen- 
tury later  Latin  literature  burst  forth  with  a  splen- 
dor which  still  continues  to  astonish  succeeding 
ages,  for  then  its  luminaries  were  Cicero,  Caesar, 
and  Lucretius.     Close  on  the  steps  of  these  followed 


LETTERS  AND  ARTS  RESTORED.        317 

the  bright  ornaments  of  what  has  always  been  con- 
sidered the  golden  age  of  Eoman  literature.  Now 
here  was  a  growth  unprecedently  rapid,  both  as  re- 
gards the  language  and  the  literature.  At  the  end 
of  five  centuries,  the  language  was  rough,  unfixed, 
and  unharmonious ;  ere  the  close  of  the  sixth  cen- 
tury it  was  graceful  in  its  idioms,  settled  in  its 
principles,  and  pleasing  to  the  ear.  At  the  end  of 
half  a  century  more,  the  literature  had  attained  its 
highest  excellence.  Thus  within  a  century  and  a 
half  a  people  who  had  passed  through  five  centuries 
without  a  literature  of  any  sort,  rose  to  be  the 
second  greatest  literary  nation  of  antiquity. 

How  much  more  gradual  had  been  the  growth  of 
Grecian  literature.  Slowly  as  the  oaks  of  Attica 
grew  the  Attic  literature.  Between  the  father  of 
Latin  poetry  and  the  Augustan  age  of  Latin  litera- 
ture, as  we  have  seen,  was  only  about  a  century  and 
a  half.  From  the  time  of  Homer  to  that  of  Demos- 
thenes was  at  least  three  times  that  interval.  And 
there  was  another  difibrence  in  the  progress  of  the 
two  literatures.  The  genius  of  the  Greeks  following 
the  natural  order  of  development,  where  the  litera- 
ture is  original  and  self-evolved,  the  lyre  had  given 
forth  its  highest  melodies  before  oratory  was  heard 
to  raise  her  voice  in  the  assemblies  of  the  people. 
Among  the  Puomans,  whose  literature  was  not  orig- 
inal but  imitative,  we  find  the  reverse  order.  For 
while  Demosthenes  followed  Homer,  Cicero  preceded 
Virgil.     Of  a  growth  thus  natural  and  so  slow,  the 


318        LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF  THE   BIBLE, 

literature  of  Greece  would  doubtless  have  proved 
very  lasting  but  for  the  disasters  of  war.  When 
the  Macedonian  conqueror,  after  the  destruction  of 
Thebes,  demanded  the  delivery  of  the  Athenian 
orators,  he  intended  a  death-blow  to  Greek  oratory, 
which  he  well  knew  had  been  the  chief  means  of 
keeping  alive  the  spirit  of  liberty.  He  succeeded 
in  his  design,  but  the  Nemesis  of  fame  avenged  the 
wrong.  For  the  declension  of  Grecian  literature, 
which  was  one  of  the  most  signal  results  of  his  am- 
bitious policy,  proved  at  the  same  time  a  severe  and 
felt  retribution  of  his  political  crimes.  He  who  had 
trampled  out  the  firesr  of  genius,  and  dried  up  the 
true  sources  of  fancy  and  natural  emotion,  was  left 
to  sigh  in  vain  for  a  great  poet  to  celebrate  his  ex- 
ploits. Thus  fell  Grecian  literature,  as  a  noble  oak, 
of  ancient  root  but  still  vigorous,  falls  beneath  the 
woodman's  ax.  But  while  Eome  was  still  in  the 
very  zenith  of  her  military  power,  Roman  literature 
began  to  decline.  Its  tree  had  shot  up  too  rapidly 
to  be  deep-rooted  in  the  national  mind;  there  was  a 
softness  at  its  core,  so  that  when  the  spirit  of  liberty 
was  crushed  its  weakness  became  at  once  apparent, 
and  pliable  as  weak,  it  speedily  was  effeminated  in 
the  breath  of  court  favor.  Its  decline  was  more 
rapid  than  its  rise.  For  toward  the  close  of  the 
reign  of  Augustus,  and  still  more  during  that  of 
Tiberius,  all  that  was  great  and  elevating  in  Roman 
literature  had  disappeared.  Poetry  became  a  para- 
site of  the  court,  history  sank  into  a  hireling  pane- 


LETTERS  AND  ARTS  RESTORED.        319 

gyrist,  eloquence  was  nothing  higher  than  a  mere 
scholastic  gladiatorship. 

There  are  some  historians,  who  while  freeing 
Christianity  from  the  absurd  charge  which  others 
have  preferred  against  it,  of  having  led,  by  its  in- 
troduction into  Italy,  to  the  decline  of  Italian  litera- 
ture, would  blame  it  because  when  that  literature 
had  begun  to  show  signs  of  decay,  the  Christians 
did  nothing  or  little  to  revive  it.  But  is  this  fair? 
Admitting  the  fact  alleged,  should  that  be  taken  as 
decisive  of  their  utter  want  of  literary  tastes,  which 
was  a  necessity  of  their  condition.  Their  sect 
was  every-where  spoken  against.  Not  seldom,  and 
against  fearful  odds,  they  had  to  battle  for  the  bare 
life.  So  far  from  having  opportunity  or  the  means 
to  cultivate  the  polite  arts,  it  was  not  always 
allowed  them  to  pursue  the  ordinary  handicrafts. 
Thus  it  continued  more  or  less,  with  few  pauses  of 
rest,  up  to  the  time  of  Constantine,  when  the  Chris- 
tian cause,  nourished  by  the  patronage  of  the  court, 
was  in  the  ascendant. 

Those  who  could  allow  themselves  to  impugn 
early  Christianity  as  being  either  hostile  or  indif- 
ferent to  polite  learning,  must  have  overlooked  the 
circumstance  that  the  first  Christian  who  wore  the 
imperial  mantle  was  himself  a  man  of  cultivated 
tastes,  and  did  much  to  foster  among  his  subjects 
literary  studies.  We  have  the  testimony  of  Euse- 
bius,  in  his  History  of  the  Life  of  Constantine,  that 
letters  and  the  arts  were  the  object  of  his  fond  solici- 


320    LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OP  THE  BIBLE. 

tude — that  liis  mind  had  been  early  imbued  with  a 
tincture  of  learning — that  he  afterward  cultivated 
eloquence,  and  composed  not  inelegantly  in  the 
Latin  language,  while  the  decrees  published  by  him 
in  favor  of  the  professors  of  the  learned  arts,  which 
may  still  be  read,  afiPord  incontestable  proof  of  his 
desire  to  extend  a  higher  education  throughout  the 
Empire.  What  effects  on  literature  his  removal  of 
the  seat  of  government  to  Byzantium  may  have  ex- 
ercised is  a  point  about  which  historians  differ,  nor 
needs  it  that  we  enter  on  the  question.  "What  we 
are  concerned  with  is  the  fact  that  the  first  Chris- 
tian emperor  proved  himself  a  patron  of  polite  let- 
ters, and  that  his  Christian  subjects,  now  for  the 
first  time  relieved  from  their  political  disabilities, 
were  not  slow  to  prosecute  those  studies  in  which 
hitherto  their  more  favored  heathen  cotemporaries 
had  been  greater  proficients. 

The  new  era,  so  auspiciously  inaugurated  by  Con- 
stantine,  fixes  the  date  from  which  it  would  be  fair 
to  begin  to  reckon  the  services  of  early  Christianity 
to  the  ancient  arts  and  literature,  which  were  now 
so  much  in  their  decline.  ''From  this  time,"  ob- 
serves Mosheim,  ''  the  Christians  applied  themselves 
with  more  zeal  and  diligeoce  to  the  study  of  philos- 
ophy and  of  the  liberal  arts.  The  emperors  encour- 
aged this  taste  for  learning,  and  left  no  means  un- 
employed to  excite  and  maintain  a  spirit  of  literary 
emulation  among  the  professors  of  Christianity.  For 
this  purpose  schools  were  established  in  many  cities, 


LETTERS  AND  ARTS  RESTORED.        321 

libraries  were  also  erected,  and  men  of  learning  and 
genius  were  nobly  recompensed  by  the  honors  and 
advantages  that  were  attached  to  the  culture  of  the 
sciences  and  arts." 

For  very  obvious  reasons,  it  was  sacred  more 
than  profane  literature  which  the  Christians  culti- 
vated; yet  they  were  by  no  means  deficient  in  the 
latter,  while  in  the  former  they  furnish  some  emi- 
nent writers,  who,  besides  genius  and  learning, 
proved  themselves  to  be  no  mean  masters  in  style. 
The  works  of  Ambrose  of  Milan,  of  Jerome,  of 
Sulpicius  Severus,  of  Augustine,  when  compared 
with  the  most  applauded  productions  of  their  hea- 
then cotemporaries,  must  be  pronounced  vastly  su- 
perior. In  Jerome  the  age  of  Ciceronian  latinity 
might  seem  to  have  revived. 

With  regard  to  the  fine  arts,  even  at  this  period, 
when  now  some  four  centuries  had  elapsed,  the 
Christians  would  seem  to  have  been  fettered  with 
a  measure  of  that  distrust  which  the  pagan  abuse 
of  these  arts  had  so  deeply  rooted  in  the  minds  of 
their  predecessors.  When  paganism  had  not  yet 
ceased  to  decorate  its  temples  with  images  and 
paintings,  and  the  old  mythologies  were  still  re- 
hearsed in  Homeric  and  Virgilian  verse,  shall  we 
greatly  blame  the  Christians  if  a  solicitude  for  the 
purity  of  worship  kept  them  somewhat  jealous  of 
arts  which  had  for  so  long  been  the  handmaidens 
of  idolatry?  Still,  with  all  their  natural  jealousy, 
they  were  beginning   to  show  that  they  could  dis- 


322        LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

criminate  between  the  uses  and  abuses  of  the  arts, 
and  gave  proofs  that  they  were,  at  least,  not  inimi- 
cal to  them.  If  more  than  this  can  scarcely  with 
truth  be  said,  we  deem  it,  in  the  circumstances,  no 
small  praise;  for,  in  troublous  times,  with  earnest 
men,  first  impressions  or  early  prejudices  are  not 
speedily  removed.  They  might  be  compared  to 
some  parasitical  fibers  which  the  vigorous  tree  car- 
ries down  with  its  roots  far  from  the  surface. 

Two  events  may  be  cotemporaneous,  proceeding 
as  in  parallel  lines,  or  even  inter-crossing,  and  yet 
have  little  or  no  causal  connection.  When  Chris- 
tianity rose,  the  heathen  arts  fell.  Here  were  co- 
temporaneous events.  Yet  were  they  not  causally 
connected;  for  it  was  not  the  rise  of  the  Star  of 
Bethlehem  which  occasioned  the  eclipse  of  the  fine 
arts.  These  would  have  sunk  had  that  star  never 
risen.  They  had  begun  to  sink,  as  we  have  seen, 
before  its  light  had  yet  skirted  the  Italian  shores. 
But  for  the  influence  of  extraneous  causes,  it  is  not 
difficult  to  conjecture  what  the  effect  of  Christianity 
would  have  been  on  the  progress  of  the  arts.  It 
could  not  have  patronized  them  in  their  heathen 
forms,  since  it  forbade  bowing  to  gods  of  stone, 
and  wood,  and  brass,  and  proclaimed  it  impossible 
to  grave  or  mold  any  similitude  of  the  Divine 
Being  whom  no  man  hath  seen  at  any  time.  But 
this  would  have  purified  art  rather  than  crushed  it. 
^'Painting  and  sculpture,"  to  use  the  words  of  Al- 
lan Cunningham,  "taking  a  new  direction,  and  in- 


LETTERS  AND  ARTS  RESTORED.        323 

spired  with  a  truer  inspiration,  would  have  wrought 
miracles  worthy  of  the  days  of  Phidias  and  Apelles." 

How  then,  it  may  be  asked,  did  Christianity  not 
achieve  this  for  heathen  art?  To  have  accomplished 
it  must  have  required  considerable  time.  It  could 
be  the  work  only  of  peaceful  centuries — a  slow  re- 
formation, which  resembles  the  labors  of  the  horti- 
culturist in  rearing  the  forest  trees,  and  not  that 
of  the  woodman  who  might  cut  down  any  one  of 
them  in  a  few  hours.  But  time  was  not  afforded 
Christianity  to  work  the  change  which,  judging  from 
its  accomplished  effects  in  after  centuries,  we  fee^ 
confident  it  would  have  achieved  for  ancient  art. 

The  provinces  of  Germany,  which  the  Eomans  had 
not  subdued,  and  the  more  remote  regions  of  the 
North  of  Europe,  and  North-West  of  Asia,  swarmed 
with  barbarous  tribes,  who,  partly  compelled  by 
their  amazing  fecundity  to  migrate,  and  partly  fired 
with  a  love  for  warlike  adventure  and  the  hope  of 
conquest,  poured  forth  an  un  summed  and  unknown 
race  toward  the  plains  of  the  sun,  to  contend  with 
those  who  called  them  barbarians  for  the  vineyards 
and  cornfields  of  Italy  and  Greece.  Their  terrible 
march  was  as  that  of  the  locust-swarms  described 
by  the  prophet  Joel — innumerable  and  devouring. 
Even  before  the  Christian  era,  these  Northern  na- 
tions had  given  indications  of  their  resolution  to 
move  southward;  and  in  the  days  of  the  apostles 
their  barbaric  armies  were  on  the  march.  Thus  it 
happened   that  while   the  messengers  of  the  cross 


324        LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF    THE  BIBLE. 

were  approaching  Rome  from  the  East,  with  the 
voice  of  peace  and  good-will  to  men,  from  the 
North  there  already  sounded  the  war  cry  of  those 
Gothic  hordes,  which  were  coming  in  like  a  flood. 
Had  Rome  sooner  listened  to  the  message  of  peace, 
she  would  have  allied  to  herself  a  power  which 
might  have  so  girded  up  her  loosened  might,  and 
revived  her  waning  vigor,  as  to  enable  her  to  stem 
back  the  torrent  which  ultimately  swept  over  the 
Empire.  For  a  time  the  warlike  spirit  of  the  early 
emperors,  and  the  discipline  of  the  legions,  retarded 
or  repulsed  these  ruthless  invaders.  But  each  re- 
turning tide  rolled  further  on  with  increased  swell, 
for  there  seemed  no  limit  to  the  myriad  numbers 
which  kept  pouring  forth  from  their  teeming  fast- 
nesses, which  have  not  inaptly  been  called  "the 
storehouse  of  nations."  Nor  did  the  fiercest  of  the 
hordes  which  had  already  appeared  equal  in  ferocity 
those  hordes  which  followed,  for  in  savage  barbarism 
the  Goths  were  exceeded  by  the  Huns.  Onward 
swept  the  wasteful  flood,  the  decaying  barriers  of 
the  Empire  giving  way  before  it;  till,  at  the  opening 
of  the  sixth  century,  no  country  of  Southern  Europe 
remained  unoccupied  by  some  Northern  tribe.  It 
was  a  flood  of  absolute  devastation.  Liberty  fled 
before  it,  but  could  find  no  Ararat.  The  ancient 
glory  of  the  Caesars  was  quenched  in  blood.  Science 
and  letters  were  all  but  extinguished  on  the  earth. 
The  reign  of  barbarism  was  reproduced;  for  though 
the  serpent  tribes  are  known   to  be  fascinated  by 


LETTERS  AND  ARTS  RESTORED.        825 

the  power  of  music,  these  savage  Norsemen  would 
not  be  charmed  by  the  harmony  of  song,  nor  soft- 
ened by  the  sculptor's  or  the  painter's  art.  Tem- 
ples were  razed  to  the  ground;  statues  trodden 
ruthlessly  under  foot;  pictures  and  books  burned  as 
so  much  brushwood.  Nothing  was  spared  which  art 
or  literature  had  reared;  and  amid  the  ruins  bar- 
barity crowned  itself  with  iron,  and  with  iron  shod 
its  heel,  which  was  on  the  neck  of  the  vanquished. 

But  where  was  Christianity  all  this  time? 

Let  us  first  say  a  word  upon  its  preservative,  be- 
fore speaking  of  its  restorative  power. 

The  history  of  these  dismal  times  strikingly  ex- 
hibits Christianity  as  a  preservative  influence.  Its 
divine,  and  therefore  indestructible  vitality,  enabled 
it  to  survive  the  sad  devastation  which  followed  the 
irruption  of  the  barbarians.  Amid  the  wasteful 
commotions  which  overflowed  the  seats  of  ancient 
civilization,  though  there  was  found  for  Christianity 
no  fixed  resting-place,  it  continued  to  float  secure 
as  the  ark  of  old  upon  the  flood  of  waters.  A 
power  greater  than  man's  kept  it  on  the  surface, 
when  in  the  social  whirlpool  which  was  caused  by 
the  shock  of  confluent  nations,  or  rather  of  conflict- 
ing races,  every  thing  else  fair  and  lovely  and  of 
good  report  went  down.  It  still  survived,  and  with 
it  survived  the  hopes  of  science  and  letters.  That 
which  has  been  suspected  of  hastening  their  decline 
alone  saved  them  from  utter  extirpation.  Under 
the  shadow  of  its  troubled  branches,  though  they 


326    LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OP  THE  BIBLE. 

could  not  find  a  peaceful  shelter — for  peace  was 
then  unknown — yet  were  they  protected  from  irre- 
trievable destruction.  The  breath  of  its  undying 
life  was  that  which  kept  them  in  any  measure 
alive. 

But  Christianity  had  more  than  a  preservative 
power.  The  salt  which  retards  putrefaction  can  not 
vivify  the  dead  carcass.  The  balms  and  unguents 
which  preserve  the  flesh,  and  even  the  features  of- 
the  coffined  corpse,  through  thousands  of  years,  can 
never  restore  to  it  the  breath  of  life;  for,  unwind- 
ing the  swathed  linen,  it  is  only  a  mummy  you  un- 
cover. But  Christianity  has  more  than  an  anti- 
septic influence.  It  has  a  vital  restorative  virtue; 
and  now  we  are  prepared  to  make  good,  by  a  simple 
appeal  to  the  history  of  the  times,  the  great  fact 
which  forms  the  heading  of  this  chapter,  namely, 
that  the  Bible,  or — what  in  effect  is  the  same — 
Christianity,  restored  literature  and  the  arts  to 
Europe  when  it  had  relapsed  into  a  military  despot- 
ism, and  lay  with  its  crushed  head  under  the  iron 
feet  of  the  barbarians. 

The  restoration  of  literature  and  the  arts  was  not 
to  be  effected  by  the  repulsion  of  the  conquerors 
and  the  reinstatement  of  the  Romans  into  their 
former  seats  of  empire.  This  was  now,  indeed,  im- 
possible ;  for  the  latter  had  been  exterminated  in  a 
long  succession  of  ravage  and  war ;  and  what  scanty 
remnants  were  spared  had  either  been  compelled  to 
seek  for  shelter  in  some  other  soil,  or  been  mixed 


LETTERS  AND  ARTS  RESTORED.        327 

up  with  the  invading  mass.  If,  then,  civilization 
was  to  be  restored  to  Europe,  the  barbarous  con- 
querors who  now  possessed  it  must  be  civilized. 

It  was  Christianity  which  achieved  this.  The 
fierce  conquerors,  who  had  remained  unsoftened  by- 
all  that  was  civilized  and  elegant,  were  not  un- 
touched by  the  preaching  of  the  dauntless  succes- 
sors of  the  apostles.  Seated  among  the  ruins  of 
temples  and  cities,  they  would  hold  their  wassail 
feasts  amid  the  grim  accompaniments  of  barbaric 
revelry;  their  swords  still  in  hand,  the  wine-cup 
perhaps  some  human  skull,  their  footstools  some 
broken  statue — Apollo  or  Venus.  And  thus,  during 
the  pauses  of  runic  song  and  revel  merriment,  the 
rude  and  fierce  chiefs  who  ruled  the  Gothic  tribes 
would  give  a  sort  of  surly  audience  to  the  preachers 
of  the  Cross,  who  came  to  tempt  them  with  the  joys 
of  heaven,  or  alarm  them  with  the  horrors  of  hell. 
Nor  did  they  listen  without  emotion.  There  was 
that  about  the  preachers  which  was  fitted  to  disarm 
hostility;  they  came  neither  as  rivals  nor  as  ene- 
mies. There  was  also  about  them  much  which  was 
fitted  to  command  respect  from  warriors  of  a  bold 
and  independent  spirit;  they  stood  before  them 
neither  as  mercenaries,  nor  as  suppliants,  nor  as 
flatterers;  while  in  the  doctrines  they  proclaimed, 
more  especially  in  the  glory  or  the  woe  of  a  future 
state,  there  was  something  which  suited  the  imag- 
inations, and,  in  some  measure,  accorded  with  the 
natural  belief  of  the  Goths,  and  fitted  their  minds 


328        LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

to  receive  the  divine  truths  of  the  Gospel.  While 
the  Christian,  besides  these  secondary  causes,  will 
not  deem  it  credulity  to  ascribe  the  almost  miracu- 
lous success  of  these  early  preachers  to  a  power 
beyond  their  own,  which  employed  them  as  the 
human  instruments  in  achieving  its  own  divine  pur- 
poses. 

It  has  been  said,  and  we  can  find  no  reason  to 
doubt  the  assertion,  that  painting  and  scul|^ture 
aided  largely  in  bringing  about  the  conversion  of 
the  barbarians.  According  to  Allan  Cunningham, 
''  the  first  missionaries,  speaking  the  classic  lan- 
guages of  Greece  or  Eome,  were  not  understood 
by  their  Northern  audiences  till  they  called  in  the 
works  of  the  pencil  and  chisel  as  auxiliaries.  A 
Christ  on  the  Cross,  a  Virgin  Mother,  a  St.  John  in 
the  Wilderness,  the  Raising  of  Lazarus,  the  Ascen- 
sion, together  with  relics  of  the  early  saints,  all 
helped  to  relate  the  history  and  the  hopes  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  impress  it  on  their  rude  understand- 
ings. Nor  were  the  barbarians  reluctant  hearers: 
so  anxiously  did  they  look  and  listen,  that  when  the 
first  preacher  of  the  Scriptures  to  the  Irish  struck, 
unwittingly,  the  iron-shod  end  of  his  crosier  through 
the  foot  of  one  of  the  princes,  the  latter  bore  the 
pain  with  fortitude,  from  a  belief  that  it  was  a 
sample  of  the  truths  which  the  other  came  to 
teach." 

We  vhave  here  two  remarks  to  offer:  The  first, 
that  if  the  fine  arts  did  some  good  service  to  the 


LETTERS  AND  ARTS  RESTORED.        329 

Christian  preachers,  in  enabling  them  the  better  to 
interpret  and  symbolize  an  intellectual  and  spiritual 
doctrine  to  the  comprehension  of  the  barbarians,  it 
is  not  to  be  thought  that  very  great  assistance 
could  be  got  from  any  so  coarse  and  rude  specimens 
of  art  as  they  had  to  exhibit.  Our  second  remark 
is,  that  any  assistance  which  the  arts  rendered  to 
Christianity  was  more  than  a  hundredfold  repaid  to 
them  by  the  effect  which  the  conversion  of  the  bar- 
barians exercised  on  their  restoration,  extension, 
and  improvement.  But  for  Christianity,  there  is  no 
reason  whatever  to  believe  that  Europe  would  have 
again  been  lighted  up  with  a  healthier  literature 
and  art  than  that  which  barbarism  had  extin- 
guished. To  persuade  the  same  rude  hands  which 
had  broken  the  lamp  to  trim  it  anew,  and  rekindle 
it — this  was  the  singular  triumph  of  Christianity. 

28 


330  LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 


CHAPTER    YIII. 

THE   BIBLE  THE  RESTORER  OF   INTELLECTUAL   LIFE— 
WHEN   EUROPE    HAD   SUNK   INTO  AN   EF- 
FEMINATING  SUPERSTITION. 

It  were  both  a  foul  and  a  wearisome  task  to 
wade  through  that  slough  of  ignorance  and  super- 
stition which  had  collected  during  the  Middle  Ages, 
and  which  lay  as  a  mental  dead-weight  on  the 
nations  of  Europe  up  till  nearly  the  time  of  the 
Reformation.  Still  our  subject  requires  that  we 
shall  take  some  notice  of  it.  The  corruptions  by 
which  the  Christian  religion  was  universally  dis- 
figured, at  the  time  indicated,  together  with  the 
gross  ignorance  which  prevailed,  not  only  among 
the  people,  but  also  the  priests  who  were  their  pro- 
fessed teachers,  are  matters  of  history.  Supersti- 
tion and  religious  imposture,  in  the  grossest  forms, 
were  wielded  with  a  high  hand  by  the  clergy,  who 
by  such  means  had  attained  to  an  exorbitant  degree 
of  opulence  and  power.  As  a  natural  consequence, 
what  small  learning  might  then  be  found  was  sedu- 
lously kept  from  the  laity.  Intellectual  culture,  if 
not  positively  interdicted,  was  even  more  effectually 
checked  by  being  stigmatized  with  tending  to  skep- 
ticism or  heresy,  while  ignorance  received  the  con]. 


INTELLECTUAL   LIFE   RESTORED.  331 

mendation  of  being  the  mother  of  devotion.  To  be 
ignorant  and  to  be  devout  were  accounted  much 
the  same  thing.  Then  it  might  be  said,  as  if  the 
earth  must  needs  have  its  mental,  as  of  old  it  had 
its  material  chaos,  that  "darkness  was  upon  the 
face  of  the  deep."  For  ignorance  mingled  with 
superstition  spread  a  vail  over  the  nations  blacker 
than  the  shades  of  Erebus. 

As  invariably  is  the  case  with  an  ignorant  age, 
this  was  also  an  age  of  servile  bondage.  And  it 
was  the  minds  and  consciences  of  men  which  were 
enslaved.  Fetters  were  then  worn  such  as  had 
never  been  forged  of  iron,  and  drudge-work  was 
then  done  such  as  blind  Samson  had  not  to  do 
when  he  ground  at  the  mill,  the  sport  of  Philistia's 
nobles.  When  the  soul  that  is  in  a  man  holds  out 
its  thoughts  to  be  put  in  thrall,  and  bends  its  un- 
derstanding to  be  girded  with  the  yoke,  then  is 
such  a  man,  though  all  unfettered  his  limbs,  a  very 
slave. 

But  was  there  no  ark  of  liberty  in  this  age  of 
bonda.ge?  no  Pharos  during  these  dismal  centuries 
of  ignorance?  There  were;  but  we  are  not  to  seek 
for  that  ark  at  Rome,  nor  for  this  Pharos  in  the 
cloistered   cell. 

The  rise  and  history  of  the  Waldenses,  or  Vau- 
dois,  must  be  familiar  to  the  reader.  This  inter- 
esting sect  was  singular,  during  these  times  of 
mental  serfdom,  in  asserting  the  right  of  private 
judgment,  and  in  claiming  liberty  of  conscience  for 


S32    LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

the  individual  to  worship  God  according  to  the 
prescriptions  of  his  "Word.  As  might  be  supposed, 
the  standard  of  religious  liberty  which  they  reared 
was  obnoxious  in  the  eyes  of  a  dominant  priesthood 
who  had  conspired  to  trample  all  liberty  in  the 
dust.  The  princes  of  Europe  were  inflamed  against 
them,  and  they  were  chased  by  fierce  persecutions 
from  place  to  place,  till  only  a  small  remnant  was 
left,  who  found  a  retreat,  fortified  by  nature,  in  the 
valleys  of  Western  Piedmont,  where  they  founded 
a  distinct  Church,  which  continued  to  keep  alive 
the  spirit  of  liberty  till  the  trumpet  of  emancipa- 
tion was  sounded  at  the  Reformation.  It  was  not, 
then,  at  Eome,  but  among  the  mountains  of  Pied- 
mont, that  the  ark  of  freedom  rested  on  its  Ararat; 
and  not  till  it  had  been  tossed  by  the  floods  of 
cruel  persecution.  And  the  remarkable  fact  which, 
in  connection  with  our  subject,  falls  chiefly  to  be 
noted  by  us,  is,  that  this  champion  band  of  true 
freemen,  when  all  others  submitted  to  be  slaves, 
made  the  Bible  alone  the  rule  of  their  faith,  and 
avouched  it  to  be  the  charter  of  their  liberty. 

I  have  said  that,  during  these  dismal  centuries  of 
ignorance,  the  Pharos  of  literature  was  never  en- 
tirely extinguished,  but  had  continued  to  shine, 
here  and  there,  a  light  in  the  darkness;  and  those 
who  would  place  the  revival  of  literature  and  co- 
temporaneous  with  the  Preformation,  post-date  it  by 
more  than  a  century.  For  Dante,  whose  marvelous 
poem  so  took  the  world  by  surprise,  and  has  by  his 


INTELLECTUAL  LIFE  RESTORED.        333 

admiring  countrymen  been  styled,  with  a  pardon- 
able pride,  the  Divina  Comedia,  gave  a  luster  to 
the  fourteenth  century.  Cotemporary  with  Dante 
in  the  different  departments  of  learning  were  men 
of  no  mean  acquirements;  but  eclipsing  them  all 
by  his  genius,  his  learned  labors,  and  enthusiasm, 
was  Petrarch.  The  taste  for  poetry  and  elegant 
composition,  for  which  the  public  mind  had  been 
prepared  by  the  writings  of  Dante,  was  raised  to  a 
pitch  of  enthusiastic  admiration  when  the  works  of 
Petrarch  appeared.  And  it  will  not  be  denied  that 
the  Genius  of  Poetry  was  beginning  once  more  to 
be  honored,  when  the  ceremonial  of  a  public  coro- 
nation, which  in  her  days  of  splendor  Eome  reserved 
for  the  victorious  commanders  of  armies,  was  be- 
stowed upon  a  votary  of  the  muses.  The  crown  of 
Petrarch,  with  all  its  attendant  applause,  reflected 
back  a  glory  on  the  age  which  had  placed  it  on  the 
poet's  brow.  Nor  may  we  omit  to  mention,  as  asso- 
ciated with  Petrarch  in  his  noble  efforts  to  revive 
literature,  and  all  but  equaling  him  in  genius,  Boc- 
caccio of  Tuscany;  and,  without  stopping  to  trace 
the  symptoms  of  a  reviving  literature  in  the  other 
countries  of  Europe,  I  would  mention  the  appear- 
ance of  Chaucer  in  our  own,  who  is  the  acknowl- 
edged father  of  English  poetry,  and  who,  though 
perhaps  not  in  an  equal  degree,  did  for  the  lan- 
guage of  his  country  what  Petrarch  and  Boccaccio 
had  accomplished  for  the  language  of  theirs — gave 
it  a  literary  permanence  and  consistency.     His  na- 


834        LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE  BIBLE. 

tive  style,  whicli  Spenser  terms  "the  pure  well  of 
English  undefiled,"  formed  a  standard  of  compo- 
sition. 

We  are,  therefore,  free  to  admit,  what  is  some- 
times overlooked  by  those  who  have  written  on  the 
supposed  total  darkness  of  the  Middle  Ages,  that 
the  revival  of  letters  preceded  the  Beformation  by 
at  least  a  century.  But  in  making  this  admission, 
we  must  still  maintain  that  only  here  and  there, 
like  some  bright,  particular  star,  a  brilliant  name 
appeared  in  the  surrounding  gloom — the  harbingers 
of  a  noonday  whose  twilight  had  as  yet  but  dimly 
shown  itself;  and  among  these  names  we  shall  cer- 
tainly find  but  few  Churchmen.  Nor  did  this  alto- 
gether arise  from  the  want  of  natural  talent,  but 
because  the  general  studies  of  ecclesiastics  and  of 
monks,  so  far  from  being  favorable,  were  averse  to 
polite  literature.  The  monastery  seldom  sent  forth 
any  other  light  than  what  was  shed  by  the  gloomy 
bale-fires  of  superstition,  and  rarely  was  there  any 
other  light  visible  within  it  except  the  sickly 
smoke-flame  of  an  idle,  impracticable  erudition.  In 
these  so-called  retreats  of  learning,  the  literature 
was  monkish  legends,  and  the  philosophy  the  unin- 
telligible jargon  and  logomachy  of  the  Schoolmen. 
There  were  written  and  read  the  lives  of  saints  who 
had  never  existed,  and  the  authority  of  Aristotle 
was  advanced  while  his  pages  were  left  unopened, 
and  as  to  any  acquaintance  with  the  learned 
tongues,  if  we  except  the  Latin,  this  was  dispensed 


INTELLECTUAL   LIFE   RESTORED.  335 

with,  not  only  among  the  lower  clergy,  but  even 
among  the  hierarchy  of  the  Eomish  Church.  Ex- 
amples of  the  total  ignorance  of  Greek,  not  to  speak 
of  Hebrew,  among  the  priesthood  might  be  cited, 
which  would  be  utterly  ludicrous  were  the  subject 
not  so  grave. 

The  great  event  which  must  be  regarded  as  the 
chief  impulse  which  assisted  the  revival  of  litera- 
ture in  the  centuries  preceding  the  Eeformation, 
was  what  has  not  inaptly  been  called  "the  resur- 
rection of  the  ancient  classics."  The  noble  pro- 
ductions of  classic  antiquity  might  be  said  to  have 
been  lost  to  modern  Europe;  for,  though  it  still 
possessed  them,  it  was  as  a  hidden  treasure,  piled 
away  among  the  lumber  and  cobwebs  of  the  clois- 
ter. The  priceless  manuscripts  which  contained  the 
imperishable  thoughts  of  a  Cicero  and  a  Demos- 
thenes had,  for  the  sake  of  the  mere  parchment, 
been  blurred  over  with  some  obliterating  unguent 
that  the  legends  of  saints  and  similar  absurdities 
might  be  written  upon  it,  or  they  lay  rotting  away, 
unread  and  unthought  of,  on  the  shelves  of  the 
sacristy.  How  great  a  loss  to  literature  was  the 
loss  of  these  matchless  productions  it  needs  not  that 
we  say.  But  there  is  an  immortality  in  the  works 
of  true  genius.  Those,  therefore,  of  Demosthenes 
and  Cicero,  of  Sophocles  and  Horace,  of  Herodotus 
and  Tacitus,  though  buried  for  a  time,  could  not 
die.  And  the  time  drew  on  when  they  were  to  be 
disentombed.     Once  more  the  literarv  firmament  of 


S36        LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

Europe  was  to  be  lighted  up  with  the  ancient  lu- 
minaries, which  were  not  any  longer  to  be  like 
those  sepulchral  lamps  which  are  said  to  have 
burned  in  the  tombs,  shedding  their  light  on  the 
pale  faces  of  the  dead  who  could  not  see  it. 

Dante,  whose  original  genius  did  so  much  to 
awake  anew  a  literary  taste,  called  Virgil  his  mas- 
ter; while  both  Petrarch  and  Boccaccio  confessed 
their  obligations  to  the  authors  of  ancient  Qreece. 
And  now  the  cry  arose,  Where  are  the  lost  classics? 
Popes  vied  with  princes,  and  cardinals  strove  with 
scholars,  to  search  them  out;  so  that  in  a  very 
short  time  the  works  of  Cicero,  Diodorus  Siculus, 
Homer,  Strabo,  Polybius,  Xenophon,  Quintilian, 
were  restored  to  Europe.  The  cultivation  of  the 
Greek  tongue  now  became  the  rage  of  the  period. 
Not  to  know  it  was  considered  as  a  mark  of  igno- 
rance, which  was  singularly  debasing  in  every  pre- 
tender to  letters.  Nor  did  the  revived  enthusiasm 
stop  till  libraries  were  formed,  and  schools  and  uni- 
versities instituted  for  the  cultivation  of  the  classic 
languages  and  literature.  While  with  the  eagerness 
to  restore  the  literary  remains  of  classic  antiquity, 
there  kept  pace  a  zeal  to  discover  and  collect  the 
monuments  of  its  arts;  so  that  with  revived  letters 
Europe  witnessed  a  revival  in  the  arts. 

But  what  was  the  effect  of  all  this?  Did  a  men- 
tal revolution  follow?  Europe  had  recovered  Cicero 
and  Demosthenes,  Virgil  and  Homer;  but  did  these 
Bet  Europe  free?     While  the  learned  devoured  the 


INTELLECTUAL  LITE   RESTORED.  337 

long-lost  treasures  of  classic  literature — its  poetry, 
eloquence,  and  philosophy — were  the  great  body  of 
the  people  any  less  ignorant  than  they  were  before? 
The  answer  to  these  questions  is  but  too  explicit. 
The  general  mind  was  as  much  asleep  as  ever,  and 
Europe  still  lay  helpless  at  the  feet  of  a  priestly 
superstition.  In  short,  the  revival  of  ancient  litera- 
ture was  no  emancipation;  the  recovered  classics 
were  not  the  key  which  was  to  unlock  the  treas- 
ures of  knowledge  for  the  people.  Neither  Demos- 
thenes with  his  eloquence,  nor  Homer  with  his  song, 
could  break  the  enchanter's  spell  which  still  held 
the  nations  in  mental  fascination.  Not  yet  had  ar- 
rived the  second  epoch  in  the  intellectual  culture  of 
Europe.  For  the  ruling  tone  and  spirit  of  the  age 
proceeding  mainly,  we  might  say  exclusively,  from 
the  revival  of  the  ancient  literature  and  learning  of 
the  Greeks  and  Romans,  could  not  be  expected  to 
rise  much,  if  any,  above  these.  There  were  not 
wanting  courtly  literati  and  Latin  poets  formed  on 
the  old  classical  models;  political  writers  in  the 
Latin  tongue,  which  was  still  the  language  of  diplo- 
macy; statesmen  and  politicians  of  the  greatest  in- 
fluence, trained  up  in  the  school  of  Greek  and 
Eoman  history  and  politics;  and  polite  dilettanti  of 
pagan  antiquity.  So  that  the  aesthetic  part  of  an- 
cient literature,  and  the  political  application  of  clas- 
sical knowledge,  were  cultivated  with  avidity;  but 
then  these  formed  the  main  and  almost  exclusive 

object  of  pursuit,  and  gave  very  much  of  a  pagan 

29 


338   LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

complexion  to  revived  literature  and  the  arts.  Many 
of  those  classical  spirits  were  more  conversant  and 
more  at  home  in  ancient  Rome  and  Athens,  in  the 
manners,  history,  and  politics  of  antiquity,  or  even 
in  its  mythology,  than  in  their  own  age,  in  the  ex- 
isting relations  of  society,  or  in  the  doctrines  and 
principles  of  Christianity.  While  therefore  we  must 
freely  own  that  the  recovery  of  the  ancient  classics 
led  to  a  revival  of  letters,  we  must  repeat  that  it 
failed  entirely  in  producing  an  intellectual  regenera- 
tion. Any  thing  like  earnest,  practical  thought,  or 
original  investigation,  was  entirely  wanting  among 
the  learned,  whose  classical  enthusiasm,  drawing 
them  after  objects  totally  foreign,  made  them  en- 
tirely regardless  of  the  existing  relations  and  wants 
of  society;  and  like  an  enchanting  draught,  seemed 
to  waft  them  into  a  dream-land  that  had  no  connec- 
tion with  the  actual  world,  which  then  eminently 
needed  their  talents  and  learning  to  be  devoted  to 
practical  reform.  And  while  this  was  the  case  with 
the  learned,  the  common  people  were  still  the  dupes 
of  superstition  and  the  slaves  of  ignorance.  The 
resurrection  of  the  lost  classics  then  did  not  bring 
intellectual  life  to  the  nations  of  Europe. 

The  Bible  also  had  become  as  it  were  a  lost  book. 
For  buried  in  the  crypt  of  the  cathedral,  or  stowed 
away  on  the  shelves  of  the  sacristy,  or  covered  over 
with  heaps  of  legends  on  the  tables  of  the  scripto- 
rium, few  even  of  the  clergy  knew  any  thing  about 
it,  and  fewer  still  ever  thouglit  of  reading  it.     But 


INTELLECTUAL  LIFE   RESTORED.  339 

it  too  was  immortal.  Though  buried  it  could  not 
die,  and  the  time  of  its  disentombment  also  arrived. 
As  we  had  occasion  to  remark  in  a  preceding  part 
of  this  work,  the  art  of  printing  may  be  said  to 
have  given  wings  to  human  thought;  and  so  far  as 
is  known,  the  first  book  that  issued  from  the  print- 
ing-press was  the  Bible.  Still  it  might  be  said  of 
the  Scriptures,  which  were  now  at  length  disen- 
tombed, that,  like  Lazarus,  they  came  forth  bound 
hand  and  foot  with  grave-clothes;  for  as  yet,  with 
scarcely  an  exception,  they  were  wrapped  up  in  the 
learned  languages,  and  not  for  some  time  would 
they  be  presented  to  the  people  in  their  own  ver- 
nacular. A  book  which  had  been  so  long  held  back 
needed  a  forerunner  to  proclaim  its  coming;  one 
who  could  herald  its  approach  with  a  voice  of 
power,  which  the  nations  hearing,  would  be  pre- 
pared to  hail  its  appearance,  and  prize  it  as  a 
treasure  invaluable.  That  forerunner  was  raised  up 
in  the  person  of  Martin  Luther.  He  unquestion- 
ably was  the  modern  Baptist,  of  whom  it  might  be 
said,  that  he  was  the  voice  of  one  crying  in  the 
wilderness,  "Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Word  of 
the  Lord,  make  his  paths  straight." 

In  the  year  1501,  there  arrived  at  the  University 
of  Erfurth  a  poor  scholar,  who,  having  tasted  the 
sweets  of  literature,  burned  with  a  desire  of  knowl- 
edge, and  longed  to  slake  his  thirst  for  letters  at 
one  of  the  academic  fountains  of  learning.  The 
young   student   showed    a    singular  aptitude,    was 


340    LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

endowed  witli  a  fine  genius,  and  with  indomitable 
perseverance  set  himself  to  peruse  the  writings  of 
Cicero,  Virgil,  and  other  classic  authors.  He  had 
evidently  caught  the  enthusiasm  of  the  age,  which, 
as  we  have  seen,  still  reveled  with  a  sort  of  intoxi- 
cation among  the  newly-recovered  masterpieces  of 
antiquity.  But  if  these  studies  fired  the  genius  and 
gratified  the  literary  tastes  of  young  Luther,  they 
failed  to  reach  the  inmost  depths  of  his  being. 
There  slumbered  in  him  a  power  which  they  could 
not  wake;  and  which,  going  out  from  him,  was  yet 
to  awake  the  world. 

"The  young  student,"  to  quote  the  words  of 
D'Aubign6,  ''passed  in  the  University  library  all 
the  time  he  could  snatch  from  his  academical  pur- 
suits. Books  were  as  yet  rare,  and  it  was  a  great 
privilege  for  him  to  profit  by  the  treasures  brought 
together  in  this  vast  collection.  One  day — he  had 
then  been  two  years  at  Erfurth,  and  was  twenty 
years  old — he  opens  many  books  in  the  library,  one 
after  another,  to  learn  their  writers'  names.  One 
volume  that  he  comes  to  attracts  his  attention.  He 
has  never,  till  this  hour,  seen  its  like.  He  reads 
the  title — it  is  a  Bible!  a  rare  book,  unknown  in 
those  times.  His  interest  is  greatly  excited;  he  is 
filled  with  astonishment  at  finding  other  matters 
than  those  fragments  of  the  Gospels  and  Epistles 
that  the  Church  has  selected  to  be  read  to  the  peo- 
ple during  public  worship  every  Sunday  throughout 
the  year.     Till  this  day  he  had  imagined  that  they 


INTELLECTUAL  LIFE   RESTOKED.  341 

composed  the  whole  Word  of  God.  And  now  he 
sees  so  many  pages,  so  many  chapters,  so  many 
books,  of  which  he  had  no  idea!  His  heart  beats 
as  he  holds  the  Divinely-inspired  volume  in  his 
hand.  With  eagerness,  and  with  indescribable  emo- 
tion he  turns  over  these  leaves  from  God.  The 
first  page  on  which  he  fixes  his  attention  narrates 
the  story  of  Hannah  and  of  the  young  Samuel. 
He  reads — and  his  soul  can  hardly  contain  the  joy 
it  feels.  This  child,  whom  his  parents  lend  to  the 
Lord  as  long  as  he  liveth;  the  Song  of  Hannah,  in 
which  she  declares  that  Jehovah  'raiseth  up  the 
poor  out  of  the  dust,  and  lifteth  the  beggars  from 
the  dunghill,  to  set  them  among  princes;*  this 
child,  who  grew  up  in  the  Temple  in  the  presence 
of  the  Lord;  those  sacrificers,  the  sons  of  Eli,  who 
are  wicked  men,  who  live  in  debauchery,  and  '  make 
the  Lord's  people  to  transgress;'  all  this  history, 
all  this  revelation  that  he  has  just  discovered,  ex- 
cites feelings  till  then  unknown.  He  returns  home 
with  a  full  heart.  '0  that  God  would  give  me 
such  a  book  for  myself!'  thought  he.  Luther  was 
as  yet  ignorant  both  of  Greek  and  Hebrew.  It  is 
scarcely  probable  that  he  had  studied  these  lan- 
guages during  the  first  two  or  three  years  of  his 
residence  at  the  University.  The  Bible  that  had 
filled  him  with  such  transports  was  in  Latin.  He 
soon  returned  to  the  library  to  pore  over  his  treas- 
ure. He  read  it  again  and  again,  and  then  in  his 
astonishment  and  joy,  he  returned  to  read  it  once 


342    LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

more.  The  first  glimmerings  of  a  new  truth  were 
there  beginning  to  dawn  upon  his  mind. 

"Thus  had  God  led  him  to  the  discovery  of  his 
Word,  of  that  book  of  which  he  was  one  day  to 
give  his  fellow-countrymen  that  admirable  transla- 
tion in  which  Germany  has  for  three  centuries 
perused  the  oracles  of  God.  Perhaps  for  the  first 
time  this  precious  volume  has  now  been  taken  down 
from  the  place  it  occupied  in  the  library  of  Er- 
furth.  This  book,  deposited  upon  the  unknown 
shelves  of  a  gloomy  hall,  is  about  to  become  the 
book  of  life  to  a  whole  nation.  In  that  Bible  the 
Eeformation  lay  hid." 

That  Bible  in  the  University  library  at  Erfurth, 
and  afterward  the  chained  Bible  which  he  found  in 
the  convent  of  the  hermit  of  St.  Augustine,  accom- 
plished in  Luther  what  the  ancient  classics,  for 
which  he  had  so  great  a  passion,  failed  to  achieve. 
Behold  the  broad-browed  monk  with  the  eagle  eye, 
in  his  convent  cell,  how  greedily  he  drinks  in,  page 
after  page,  the  wonderful  book,  till  that  broad  brow 
seems  to  expand,  and  those  eagle  eyes  to  shoot  out 
fire!  Eureka!  the  solitary  monk  exclaims — I  have 
found  it :  the  key  of  knowledge,  the  sword  of  truth, 
the  watchword  of  liberty.  And  now — his  time  hav- 
ing come — with  that  key  at  his  girdle,  that  sword 
in  his  hand,  and  that  watchword  on  his  lips,  this 
God-sent  man  goes  forth  to  instruct,  to  reform,  to 
liberate  the  world.  He  proclaims  freedom  in  the 
name  of  that  book  which  has  made  himself  free. 


INTELLECTUAL   LIFE   RESTORED.  343 

He  puts  the  Bible  as  a  trump  of  jubilee  to  bis 
mouth,  and  sounds  over  Europe  the  redemption- 
year  of  literature  as  well  as  theology. 

And  now  let  the  fact  be  pondered:  the  finding 
of  the  Bible  did  lead  to  a  mental  revolution — the 
revival  of  Biblical  learning  was  an  emancipation — 
the  classic  of  Palestine  has  proved  the  key,  which 
at  a  touch  was  to  open  the  locked  stores  of  knowl- 
edge to  the  people.  And  since  these  glorious  days 
of  Luther,  on  and  still  on  has  rolled  the  tide  of  lib- 
erty, on  and  still  on  has  moved  the  march  of  prog- 
ress, on  and  still  on  has  spread  the  light  of  truth, 
till  now,  the  accumulated  stores  of  modern  learning, 
the  astonishing  discoveries  and  inventions  of  modern 
science,  the  rapid  progress  of  modern  arts,  the  spirit 
of  earnest  inquiry,  the  spread  of  education,  the  read- 
ing millions,  are  a  monument  of  what  the  human 
mind  can  accomplish  when  it  is  free;  and  not  less  a 
memorial  that  it  was  the  Bible  which  procured  its 
freedom. 


344        LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE  BIBLE. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

THE  INFLUENCE  OF   THE  BIBLE  ON  SCIENCE. 

Although  it  does  not  fall  within  the  strict  title 
of  this  volume,  yet  it  is  so  congruous  with  its  de- 
sign that  I  can  not  allow  myself  to  pass  over,  with- 
out some  remark,  the  influence  which  the  Bible  has 
exerted  on  science. 

The  objection  may  be  heard  that  the  Scriptures 
have  not  made  any  contributions  to  the  physical 
sciences.  But  this  is  surely  most  frivolous.  Sup- 
pose an  infidel,  who  is  addicted  to  natural  philoso- 
phy, to  take  up  the  Institutes  of  Calvin;  and,  after 
reading  a  few  pages,  to  throw  the  book  aside  with 
a  sneer  that  there  is  nothing  in  it  about  the  laws 
of  motion  or  the  mechanical  powers.  Or  suppose 
an  infidel,  who  has  a  preference  for  mathematical 
studies,  to  complain  of  Humboldt's  Cosmos  that  it 
contains  no  pure  geometry,  and  does  not  expound 
the  differential  calculus.  Or  suppose  a  third  infidel, 
who  is  fond  of  natural  history,  to  take  exception  to 
Herschel's  treatises  on  astronomy  that  they  are 
wanting  in  zoology  and  botany.  Or  we  shall  sup- 
pose that  a  fourth,  who  is  a  distinguished  chemist, 
faults  Brewster's  Optics  because  they  do  not  de- 
scribe the  atomic  theory;  or  that  a  fifth,  who  is  an 


MODERN  SCIENCE.  345 

enthusiastic  geologist,  censures  De  Morgan's  work 
on  Probabilities,  because  it  gives  no  account  of  ex- 
tinct genera;  or  that  a  sixth,  who  is  addicted  to 
metaphysics,  blames  Macaulay  because,  in  his  His- 
tory of  England,  he  has  not  discussed  the  doctrine 
of  innate  ideas.  These  suppositions  imply  a  stand- 
ard of  criticism  so  vastly  absurd  that  they  provoke 
a  smile  by  their  bare  mention.  The  only  fair  and 
reasonable  criticism  by  which  to  test  a  book,  is 
whether,  first,  the  subject  was  worth  writing  upon ; 
and  if  so,  secondly,  whether  its  author  has  done 
that  well  which  he  undertook  to  do.  Now  the 
sacred  penmen  never  undertook  to  write  on  science. 
Their  chosen  subject  is  theology.  The  only  relevant 
question,  therefore,  as  to  the  merits  of  their  works, 
is  whether  they  have  handled  this  subject  well;  en- 
larging its  field  by  solid  contributions,  and  illustra- 
ting its  several  objects  by  just  exposition. 

Had  the  Scriptures  made  contributions  to  phys- 
ical science,  then,  just  in  proportion  to  the  amount 
of  these  contributions,  they  would  have  been  useless 
as  a  revelation  of  moral  and  spiritual  truth.  "Were 
a  Bible  to  be  given  to  mankind  now  it  might  allude 
not  only  to  the  facts,  but  also  to  the  higher  gener- 
alizations of  modern  science,  and  this  with  good 
efiect,  for  its  readers  could  understand  its  allusions. 
But  with  what  other  efi'ect  than  to  bewilder  man- 
kind, could  the  Bible  have  announced  any  one  of  the 
modern  discoveries  in  science?  Fancy  it  speaking 
to  the  ancient  Hebrews  of  the  diurnal  rotation  of 


316        LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

the  earth,  or  of  its  annual  revolution.  If  it  was  to 
teach  science,  it  could  only  do  so  by  commencing 
with  its  first  elements :  in  other  words,  it  must  have 
been  an  elementary  treatise  on  astronomy,  botany, 
chemistry,  geology,  etc.  And  if  thus  a  popular 
digest  of  the  sciences,  it  must  have  been  a  very 
voluminous  affair  indeed.  And  one  might  be 
tempted  to  ask,  if  the  masses  were  to  master  its 
scientific  portions,  what  time  would  they  have  left 
to  study  its  theology,  or  its  subject  proper? 

Some  reputable  writers  have  expressed  the  opin- 
ion, that  there  are  to  be  found  in  the  Bible  the 
germs  of  undeveloped  science,  prophetic  anticipa- 
tions, or  oracular  allusions  let  drop  here  and  there 
prenunciating  modern  discoveries,  which,  though 
not  intelligible  in  those  unscientific  ages,  do  now 
yield  an  intelligible  meaning  when  read  in  the  light 
of  these  times.  But  for  our  own  part,  we  are  free 
to  confess,  that  we  would  set  small  value  on  these 
so-called  Scriptural  prelusions  of  science  before  its 
age.  We  apprehend  that  the  Divine  Author  of  the 
Bible  intended  to  leave  it  to  man  himself  to  write 
his  own  books  on  physical  science.  And  in  this  he 
has  acted  in  accordance  with  a  fundamental  prin- 
ciple in  his  providence;  which  is,  not  to  proclaim 
by  a  voice  from  heaven  truths  which  are  discover- 
able by  the  due  exercise  of  man's  own  reason.  No 
doubt  it  has  taken  a  long  time  for  man  to  discover 
true  science.  The  Baconian  philosophy  dates  only 
from  the  sixth  millennium  in  the  world's  history; 


MODERN  SCIENCE.  847 

the  three  magna  opera  on  science — Bacon's  Novum 
Organurrij  Newton's  Princijpia,  and  La  Place's 
MSeJianique  Celeste,  are  "far  between."  But  then, 
necessary  as  these  three  great  works  were  to  its 
science,  the  world  could  better  afford  to  wait  for 
them  than  for  a  completed  Bible.  Accordingly  it 
was  given  and  its  canon  closed  many  centuries 
before  the  first  of  these  appeared;  whereas  He  who 
*'knoweth  the  end  from  the  beginning,"  foreseeing 
that  Bacon,  Newton,  and  La  Place  would  yet  arise, 
did  not  reveal  what  they,  without  a  revelation,  were 
to  discover. 

But  the  infidel  will  have  it,  that  the  Bible  has 
been  obstructive  to  science. 

Now,  it  is  confessed  that  science  has  had  its 
martyrs,  and  that  the  Church  kindled  the  pyre. 
With  pious  indignation  and  eloquent  invective  the 
Fathers  of  the  Christian  Church  condemned  the 
theory  of  the  Antipodes  as  being  opposed  to  Scrip- 
ture. With  equal  indignation,  but  employing  tor- 
ture instead  of  invective.  Pope  Zachary  treated 
Virgilius  as  a  heretic  for  broaching  this  same 
theory.  The  council  of  Salamanca  indignantly  de- 
nounced the  notion  of  the  earth  being  a  sphere; 
and  the  doctors  of  the  inquisition  consigned  to  their 
dungeons  the  illustrious  Florentine  who  proclaimed 
the  theory  of  the  earth's  rotation.  Nor  was  it  only 
the  Papacy  which  by  an  appeal  to  Scripture  at- 
tempted to  lay  an  arrest  on  modern  science.  Our 
earlier  Protestant  divines  arrayed  themselves  against 


348   LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

the  system  of  Copernicus;  and  one  of  the  most 
learned  and  eloquent  of  them  set  himself  to  prove 
from  Scripture,  as  if  it  were  a  very  article  of  or- 
thodox Christianity,  that  the  earth  is  stationary, 
while  the  sun,  with  the  entire  host  of  stars,  are  the 
only  pilgrim-orbs  in  the  firmament.  Among  our 
later  divines  not  a  few  have  set  an  anti-Biblical 
brand  upon  the  researches  of  the  geologists. 

We  can  not  justify  either  the  scientific  opinions 
of  the  theologians,  or  the  means  which  they  took  to 
defend  them.  Still  so  far  in  apology  we  may  plead 
that  principle  of  conservatism  in  our  nature,  which 
makes  us  slow  to  give  up  old  beliefs,  and  which, 
though  often  no  better  than  a  mental  vis  inertice,  is 
yet  useful  as  a  counteraction  to  that  love  of  novelty, 
which,  unless  met  by  an  opposing  immobility,  would 
in  its  efibrts  at  reformation  produce  rather  a  revo- 
lution. Doubtless  the  theologians  ought  not  to  have 
been  so  alarmed,  and  their  fears  only  betrayed  their 
ignorance  alike  of  Scripture  and  of  science.  Still, 
some  allowance  is  to  be  made  for  the  tenacity  even 
of  needless  alarm,  when  what  it  clings  to,  as  with  a 
death-gripe,  are  as  it  believes  the  very  foundations 
of  sacred  truth.  And  there  was,  it  must  be  owned, 
some  reason  for  the  anxiety  of  the  theologians,  since 
among  the  philosophers  there  were  those  who  ex- 
pressed what  looked  very  like  indifference  as  to  the 
effect  which  scientific  discovery  might  have  on  the 
credibility  of  the  Scriptures. 

But  we  may  not  content  ourselves  with  being  the 


MODERN  SCIENCE.  349 

mere  apologists  of  the  theologians.  That  not  a  few 
of  them  yielded  to  false  alarms,  and  when  pressed 
by  rash  theorists  became  obstructionists  to  true 
science,  we  frankly  admit.  But  to  assert  of  them 
as  a  class  that  this  has  been  their  character,  would 
be  a  most  undeserved  calumny.  Without  neglecting 
the  duties  of  their  sacred  profession,  or  any  the  less 
enriching  theological  literature,  many  of  them  have 
ranked  beside  the  very  brightest  ornaments  of  sci- 
ence, have  enlarged  it  by  their  discoveries,  and  at 
the  present  day  are  among  its  ablest  expositors. 
We  shall  instance,  in  mathematics.  Dr.  Isaac  Bar- 
row, who  dignified  the  chair  to  which  Newton  was 
not  unwilling  to  succeed;  Dr.  Wallis,  to  whom  we 
owe  the  origin  of  the  arithmetic  of  infinities;  Eoger 
Coles,  who  discovered  a  property  of  the  circle,  which 
is  justly  reckoned  among  the  most  remarkable  prop- 
ositions in  geometry;  Eichard  Price,  whose  work 
on  reversionary  payments  has  rendered  so  signal 
service  to  the  important  subject  of  life-assurance; 
Stifels,  a  German  Protestant,  who  by  his  Arithmet- 
ica  Integra  gave  an  amazing  impulse  to  the  analytic 
art,  himself  being  the  first  to  devise  the  modern 
algebraic  notation;  Dr.  Matthew  Stewart,  who,  in 
his  physical  and  mathematical  tracts,  has  shown 
that  the  old  geometry,  in  such  skillful  hands,  can 
be  made  to  unravel  questions  which  were  thought 
to  require  all  the  resources  of  modern  analytics. 
And  if  from  the  discoverers  in  mathematical  science 
we  descend  to  its  popular  expositors,  here  also  the 


3^50        LITERARY   ACHIEVEMENTS   OP  THE   BIBLE. 

theologians  will  be  found  to  occupy  a  foremost  rank, 
as,  for  example,  Peacock,  Cresswell,  Bland,  Wood, 
and  many  others.  In  astronomy  we  find  the  names 
of  Bradley,  to  whom  the  science  owes  the  two 
brilliant  discoveries  of  the  aberration  of  the  celes- 
tial bodies  and  the  mutation  of  the  earth's  axis;  of 
Dr.  Samuel  Clark,  to  whom  in  chief  measure  is  due 
the  honor  of  introducing  the  Newtonian  philosophy 
into  the  University  of  Cambridge;  of  Abb6  Picard, 
who,  under  the  direction  of  the  Academy  of  Sci- 
ences, made  the  first  measurement  of  a  degree  of  the 
meridian,  on  which  perfect  reliance  could  be  placed. 
In  pneumatic  chemistry  the  name  of  Priestly  will 
always  be  ranked  high.  Electricity  owes  its  first 
impulse  and  one  of  its  greatest  discoveries  to  a  the- 
ologian, Volta,  of  Como.  In  mineralogy  the  most 
celebrated  name  is  also  that  of  a  theologian.  Abbe 
Hauy.  Mechanical  science  ranks  among  its  great- 
est promoters  the  Rev.  Dr.  Carpenter,  the  inventor 
of  the  power-loom.  In  the  philosophy  of  zo5logy 
the  name  of  the  late  Dr.  Fleming  stands  deservedly 
high,  and  the  celebrated  work  of  the  Rev.  William 
Kirby,  his  Monographia  Apium  Anglice,  may  claim 
the  merit  of  first  originating  the  analytic  method 
of  investigating  nature.  In  general  science  few 
names  in  recent  times  will  compete  with  that  of 
Whewell;  while,  in  political  science,  one  of  the 
greatest  masters,  though  his  views  have  not  re- 
ceived the  attention  they  deserve,  is,  in  our  opinion, 
Dr.  Chalmers.     In  geology — the  science  which  more 


MODERN  SCIENCE.  351 

than  any  other  the  theologians  have  been  blamed 
with  obstructing — it  happens  that  at  once  its  most 
profound  and  most  popular  defenders  are  clergy- 
men— Dr.  Pye  Smith,  Dr.  Chalmers,  Dr.  Buck- 
land,  Dr.  Whewell,  Professor  Sedgwick,  Dr.  Harris, 
Dr.  Anderson,  Dr.  King,  and  Professor  Hitchcock. 
Among  theologians  who  have  not  written  expressly 
on  science,  yet  who  show  an  intimate  acquaint- 
ance with  it,  as  also  a  thorough  appreciation  of 
its  importance,  we  might  instance  Derham  in  his 
Astro- Theology  and  his  Fhysico-  Theology ,  Chalmers 
in  his  Astronomical  Discourses,  Paley  in  his  Natu- 
ral Theology,  Sumner  in  his  Record  of  Creation, 
and  M'Cosh  in  his  Method  of  the  Divine  Govern- 
ment. Of  such  men  as  these,  while  they  have  stood 
forth  as  the  unflinching  advocates  of  the  Bible,  it 
will  scarcely  be  said  by  any  one  competent  to  form 
a  judgment,  that  they  have  retarded  the  progress 
of  physical  science.  On  the  contrary,  by  bringing 
to  its  investigation  the  truth-lovingness  of  sanctified 
intellect,  they  have  made  it  instinct  with  a  higher 
life,  and  have  haloed  it  with  a  brighter  glory. 

This  much  on  the  infidel's  calumny  against  the 
theologians,  that  as  a  class  they  have  obstructed 
science.  And  now,  as  to  the  Bible  itself,  we  fear- 
lessly challenge  the  infidel  to  show  how  it  could  pos- 
sibly obstruct  science.  On  which  of  its  pages  does  it 
interdict  scientific  pursuits?  Where  does  it  breathe 
a  spirit  in  the  slightest  degree  inimical  to  physical 
research?     Does  it  unfit  the  mind  for  the  investi- 


352    LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

gation  of  natural  phenomena?  On  the  contrary,  it 
peculiarly  prepares  it  by  presenting  the  material 
universe  in  all  its  departments  as  the  work  of  that 
same  Infinite  Wisdom  to  which  we  owe  Eevelation 
itself;  and  the  laws  and  processes  in  nature  as  the 
one  part  of  the  same  stupendous  scheme  of  Provi- 
dence, of "  which  the  other  part  are  the  operations 
of  grace.  The  Bible  knows  but  one  God,  its  own 
author,  who  is  also  the  architect  of  the  heavens 
and  the  earth.  And,  therefore,  when  rightly  inter- 
preted, it  must  necessarily  concord  with  the  discov- 
eries of  science,  while  it  holds  out  one  of  the 
strongest  stimulants  to  the  students  of  nature,  as 
the  works  of  God,  to  strive  to  enlarge  our  knowl- 
edge of  it. 

And  we  will  make  our  appeal  to  the  history  of 
science  itself,  whether  it  has  not  made  the  most 
rapid  and  solid  progress  in  those  lands  where  the 
Scriptures  are  most  widely  circulated  —  whether 
among  its  pioneers  and  promoters  the  sacred  vol- 
ume has  not  occupied  a  foremost  place.  British 
infidels,  at  least,  might  well  pause  before  closing 
the  issue  against  the  Bible.  For  if  our  island  owns 
the  proud  preeminence  of  being  the  birthplace  of 
inductive  philosophy,  it  is  matter  of  history  that 
before  Bacon,  the  father  of  that  philosophy,  was 
born,  the  Bible  had  found  its  way  to  England,  and 
the  art  of  printing  had  already  put  many  copies  of 
it  in  circulation.  How  far  these  two  events — the 
antecedent  spread  of  Biblical  knowledge,  and  the 


MODERN  SCIENCE.  353 

subsequent  appearance  of  tlie  Baconian  philosopliy, 
both  happening  within  the  same  century  and  in  the 
same  country — are  to  be  regarded  as  cause  and 
effect,  we  shall  not  presume  to  say.  But  this  much 
we  may  affirm  historically,  that  in  no  land  which 
the  Bible  had  not  visited  did  true  science  arise; 
and  that  when  the  invigorating  and  suggestive 
truths  of  that  divine  book  had  been  brought  fairly 
into  contact  with  the  strong  Saxon  intellect  of  our 
forefathers,  one  among  them  was  able  to  discover, 
and  many  among  them  were  prepared  to  receive, 
the  true  method  of  philosophy. 

The  assertion  is  easily  made  that  Christianity  has 
obstructed  science,  but  does  the  biography  of  scien- 
tific men  bear  out  the  assertion?  Have  those  who 
believed  the  Bible  to  be  divinely  inspired  been  mere 
sciolists?  or  have  our  profoundest  physicists  been 
infidels?  It  were  little  in  the  spirit  of  the  Bacon- 
ian philosophy  to  parade  the  authority  of  great 
names — that  idolum  tribus,  which  Bacon  himself 
has  so  labored  to  break.  Nor  will  common  justice, 
not  to  speak  of  philosophy,  excuse  the  tone  in  which 
skepticism  has  adulated  mediocre  talent,  simply  to 
suit  its  own  purposes.  It  is  very  much  as  if,  in 
measuring  the  size  of  a  statue,  one  were  to  include 
the  altitude  of  the  pillar  on  which  it  is  set.  We 
do  not  deny  that  not  a  few  highly-gifted  men  have 
avowed  themselves  to  be  infidels,  and  we  have  no 
wish   to   disparage   their   genius.     Yet  why  should 

infidelitv    so    ostentatiously    inscribe    their    names 

30 


354   LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

above  its  temple  gates?  Is  their  number  after  all 
so  great?  or  will  they  once  compare  with  the  high- 
priests  of  the  temple?  Shall  we  find  among  them 
a  Galileo,  a  Kepler,  a  Bacon,  a  Newton? — those  in- 
tellectual giants,  taller  by  the  shoulders  than  any 
who  are  living  now — men  of  inventive  genius,  pos- 
sessed of  more  than  the  merely  logical  or  mathe- 
matical faculty,  being  gifted  besides  with  those 
penetrative  and  sublime  intuitions  which  come  near- 
est to  the  divine.  Yet  these  men  believed  the  Bi- 
ble, and  were  not  ashamed  to  confess  their  obli- 
gations to  it.  Too  many  of  our  philosophers  have 
been  infidels;  but  Philosophy  herself,  in  the  person 
of  these  her  most  gifted  sons,  has  set  her  seal  to 
the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures.  . 

The  infidel  will  have  it  that  the  Bible  has  ob- 
structed true  science,  by  teaching  a  science  which 
is  false.  We  simply  deny  it.  Whenever  such  an 
assertion  has  been  made,  and  an  instance  specified, 
one  of  two  results  has  happened — either  the  alleged 
instance  has  been  satisfactorily  disposed  of,  or  it  has 
been  shown  to  be  one  of  those  residual  difficulties 
which  must  lie  over  till  science  further  advances, 
being  in  the  mean  while  manifestly  not  an  actual, 
but  only  an  apparent  discrepancy.  The  history  of 
modern  science  abundantly  carries  us  out  in  mak- 
ing this  affirmation.  The  time  was  when  it  was 
in  fashion  to  trump  up  a  whole  host  of  Scriptural 
inaccuracies  in  geography,  chronology,  and  astron- 
omy.    But  no  infidel  of  any  intelligence  will  be 


MODERN   SCIENCE.  355 

found  bold  enough  to  press  those  objections  now. 
It  is  mainly  on  the  field  of  paleontology  the  battle 
is  now  being  fought,  and  we  have  no  misgivings  as 
to  the  result.  The  facts  of  the  science  itself,  in  so 
far  as  they  conflict  with  the  Mosaic  account  of 
creation,  are  but  partially  investigated;  some  of 
them  but  ill  generalized,  and  many  of  them  not 
yet  verified.  Physical  theories  have  been  woven 
out  of  very  slender  materials.  Cosmogonies  have 
been  more  hurriedly  gotten  up  than  there  were 
scientific  data  with  which  to  build  them.  We 
can  calmly  wait  the  advance  of  science,  assured 
that,  as  it  advances,  it  will  do  what  it  has  done 
before — supply  the  answer  to  its  own  objections; 
while  in  the  mean  time  it  is  gratifying  to  know, 
that  step  by  step,  the  friends  alike  of  Scripture 
and  science  have  walked  abreast  of  the  infidel, 
furnishing  methods  of  conciliation,  at  every  stage 
of  the  controversy,  between  the  geologic  and  the 
Mosaic  cosmogonies.  And  one  thing  the  infidel 
himself  must  admit,  that  no  chapter  in  any  book 
has  provoked  more  scientific  investigation  and  spec- 
ulation, none  has  done  more  to  stimulate  one  of  our 
most  recent  sciences,  than  the  first  chapter  in  that 
so  ancient  book,  which  was  written  before  the  birth 
of  science,  or  even  literature,  under  the  shadows  of 
Sinai. 


356         LITERARY   ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 


CHAPTER    X. 

CONCLUSION. 

On  a  review  of  the  subject  which  has  occupied 
us  on  these  pages,  some  practical  reflections  suggest 
themselves  with  which  we  may  appropriately  con- 
clude. 

It  must,  I  think,  be  acknowledged  that  in  any 
view  we  can  take  of  it,  the  Bible  is  a  most  remark- 
able book,  and  has  had  a  most  remarkable  history. 
In  the  rapid  sketch  which  has  been  given  of  its 
literary  achievements,  we  have  seen  that  it  has 
stimulated  the  intellect,  refined  tlfe  taste,  improved 
the  literature,  sanctified  the  arts,  vivified  the  phi- 
losophy, and  given  an  impulse  to  the  industry  of 
every  people  among  whom  it  has  found  a  footing. 
The  question  which  we  would  press  upon  the  con- 
sideration of  the  reader  is.  Can  this  book  be  other 
than  Divine?  Even  other  evidence  apart,  might 
not-  its  literary  characteristics,  and  its  literary 
achievements,  be  held  as  proof  conclusive  of  its 
divinity?  For  on  what  known  or  conceivable  law 
of  mental  development  shall  we  otherwise  account 
for  it?  .  The  Bible  exists;  how  came  it  to  be  at  all? 
how  to  be  what  it  is?  The  simple  principle  of 
causation  which  necessitates  the  human  mind  to  seek 


CONCLUSION.  357 

out  for  every  effect  an  adequate  cause,  would  seem 
here  to  shut  us  up  to  one  explanation  of  the  origin 
of  the  Bible.  Any  other  cause  short  of  Divine  in- 
spiration is  manifestly  inadequate  to  account  for  it. 

Suppose  the  greatest  geniuses  of  antiquity — its 
poets,  orators,  scholars,  sculptors,  painters,  musi- 
cians, its  men  of  letters,  and  its  mental  philoso- 
phers— had  met  to  compose  a  book,  which  should  go 
down  to  future  ages  as  their  joint  production;  if 
this  book  had  accomplished  one  tithe  of  what  the 
Bible  has  done  we  would  have  proclaimed  it  a 
marvel.  But  here  is  a  book  the  earlier  portions  of 
which  were  written  when  literature  was  in  its  in- 
fancy, and  the  fine  arts  were  as  yet  unborn;  its 
later  portions  being  composed,  it  is  true,  during  the 
Augustan  age  of  ancient  learning,  yet  not  by  any 
of  its  great  ornaments,  but  by  illiterate  Galileans — 
fishermen  from  the  banks  of  an  inland  lake,  who 
had  never  read  a  Greek  or  Latin  poet,  had  perhaps 
never  seen  a  Greek  or  Latin  piece  of  art,  who,  even 
in  their  own  land,  which  was  remote  from  the  seats 
of  classic  learning,  were  deemed  illiterate — that  this 
book,  written  by  these  authors  should  be  what  it  is, 
and  have  achieved  what  it  has  done,  is  not  merely 
a  marvel — it  is  a  miracle. 

Either  part  of  our  subject,  therefore,  furnishes  a 
contribution  to  the  Christian  evidences.  Taking 
the  first,  or  the  literary  characteristics  of  the  Bible, 
we  have  a  book  altogether  original  and  unique,  not 
in  its  theology  merely,  but  also  in  its  method  and 


368        LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF    THE   BIBLE. 

style,  its  poetry,  its  history,  its  delineations  of 
nature,  and  its  analysis  of  human  character.  Or 
taking  the  second  part,  the  literary  achievements 
of  the  Bible,  we  have  a  book  equally  without  a 
parallel.  No  other  can  for  a  moment  be  compared 
with  it  in  the  history  of  mental  development — itself 
receiving  no  additions  since  the  sacred  canon  was 
closed,  yet  constantly  adding  to  the  stock  of  human 
knowledge  in  almost  every  line  of  investigation.  If 
we  take  these  two  together  it  appears  to  us  alto- 
gether impossible  to  account  for  the  existence  of 
such  a  book,  except  on  the  admission  that  it  has 
proceeded  from  God.  The  invariable  equation  of 
cause  and  effect  seems  to  shut  us  up  to  this  conclu- 
sion. For  dispute  about  the  Bible  as  men  will, 
there  it  is,  a  great  fact;  and  like  every  fact  has  in 
some  way  to  be  accounted  for.  Applying  the  fun- 
damental maxim  in  causality  to  the  Bible,  simply 
as  an  effect,  it  seems  to  us  simply  impossible  to  find 
any  sufficient  explanation  of  its  existence,  except 
one,  that  it  is  the  Book  of  God,  or  in  other  words, 
that  he  who  is  the  Great  First  Cause  of  all  great 
effects  is  the  author  of  this  great  book.  Beyond 
this,  of  course,  we  need  not  go;  but  short  of  this 
we  can  not  stop,  in  seeking  to  account  for  the  bare 
existence  of  a  book  whose  contents  and  whose  his- 
tory are  alike  so  entirely  unique. 

I  have  already  taken  occasion  on  these  pages  to 
avow  my  belief  in  the  literal  theopneicstia  of  the 
Bible.     And  in  reavowing  that  belief,  in  this  con- 


CONCLUSION.  ^9 

eluding  chapter,  the  reader  will  allow  me  to  observe 
that  in  applying  the  term  inspiration  to  the  Scrip- 
tures, I  do  not  define  it  in  the  loose  sense  of  many 
of  our  philosophers,  when  they  tell  us  that  every 
great  poet  and  orator  is  a  man  inspired — that  the 
writings  of  a  Plato,  a  Homer,  or  a  Milton,  are 
divine  writings,  or  inspirations  caught  from  God. 
Were  it  only  meant  by  this  way  of  speaking  the 
more  strongly  to  confess  that  genius  is  a  divine  gift, 
and  that,  therefore,  the  productions  of  genius  are  to 
be  ascribed  to  him  who  has  endowed  it  with  its  in- 
tuitive penetration,  its  creative  conceptiveness,  and 
eloquent  utterance,  we  should  be  far  from  blaming 
the  use  of  the  term  inspiration  in  this  secondary  or 
figurative  sense.  But  this  is  not  what  these  philos- 
ophers mean.  They  make  no  distinction  in  apply- 
ing the  term  to  the  writings  of  men  and  to  the 
Scriptures  of  God.  According  to  them,  Plato, 
Shakspeare,  Homer,  Milton,  were  inspired  in  the 
same  way  in  which  Moses,  David,  Isaiah,  and  the 
other  sacred  writers  were  inspired. 

I  shall  grant — to  avoid  a  discussion  about  mere 
words — that  there  is  a  lower,  or  non-literal  inspira- 
tion, to  which  are  owing  the  works  of  human  genius. 
But  then  let  it  be  carefully  discriminated  wherein 
this  differs  from  the  true  literal  inspiration  which 
the  Scriptures  lay  claim  to. 

The  difference  is  not  one  of  mere  degree;  as  if 
Moses  had  only  a  higher  measure  of  the  same  divine 
afflatus  than  Plato  or  Seneca.     But  the  difference  is 


360        LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF   THE  BIBLE. 

one  in  kind;  the  divine  operation  in  the  two  cases 
being  essentially  dilBferent.  If  the  man  of  genius — 
the  poet,  the  philosopher,  the  orator — is  inspired,  it 
is  by  a  certain  divine  action  upon  his  mind,  which 
may  be  said  to  energize,  elevate,  and  clarify  it;  in 
which  condition  it  is  enabled  to  perceive  and  appre- 
hend ideas,  which  otherwise  it  might  not  have  per- 
ceived or  apprehended,  and  is  also  enabled  to  give 
fuller  and  more  forcible  utterance  to  these  ideas, 
as  if  the  lips  were  touched  with  that  hidden  fire 
which  kindles  true  eloquence  into  "words  which 
burn."  Thus  far,  and  in  this  sense,  we  are  will- 
ing to  ascribe  a  divine  inspiration  to  the  great 
works  of  human  genius,  for  we  would  not  venture 
to  deny  the  possibility,  or  even  the  probability,  of 
a  certain  divine  operation  on  the  mind,  by  which  it 
is  raised  above  more  common  minds,  and,  in  a  sense, 
carried  beyond  itself;  so  as  in  a  higher  region  to  see 
what  before  was  unseen,  to  hear  what  before  was  in- 
audible, to  comprehend  what  before  was  incompre- 
hensible, and  to  articulate  what  till  now  had  been 
unspoken. 

But  now  let  the  phenomena  and  conditions  of  this 
sort  of  inspiration  be  distinctly  noted.  First,  the 
ideas  are  extraneous  till  the  mind,  as  best  it  may, 
has  seized  upon  them.  Secondly,  the  mind,  for 
itself,  has  to  bring  them  into  the  sphere  of  its 
consciousness.  Thirdly,  there  is  no  such  infallible 
guidance  or  supervision,  but  that  the  mind  may 
miss  the  truest  forms,  and  mistake  the  truest  ex- 


CONCIiUSION.  361 

pression  of  those  great  ideas,  of  whicli  in  its  intens- 
ified state  it  Lad  caught  the  floating  outlines. 
Hence,  in  the  fourth  place,  supreme  authority  does 
not  attach  even  to  the  most  oracular  deliverances 
of  this  species  of  inspiration.  Of  Nature's  hidden 
verities  there  may  not  yet  have  appeared  either 
poet  or  philosopher  who  is  the  truest  prophet;  but 
another  more  inspired  than  they — that  is,  with  his 
mind  more  elevated  and  energized  by  this  divine 
operation,  whatever  it  is — may  some  time  hence 
better  interpret  her  mysteries.  We  believe  Milton 
to  have  had  truer  visions  than  Homer,  but  a  third 
poet  may  yet  arise  who  shall  be  more  largely 
truthful  than  Milton.  And  now,  in  the  fifth  place, 
when  the  question  is  mooted,  by  what  standard  are 
we  to  test  the  truthfulness  of  this  inspiration?  the 
answer  plainly  can  not  be,  that  itself  is  to  be  the 
standard  of  last  resort.  For  this  would  imply  abso- 
lute infallibility,  which,  as  we  have  just  seen,  does 
not  belong  to  it.  Its  deliverances  are  to  be  accepted 
as  truth  only  in  so  far  as  they  agree  with  that 
standard  of  the  true  which  is  within  my  own  con- 
sciousness. Homer,  Milton,  Shakspeare,  have  no 
authority  over  my  faith  except  in  so  far  as  the 
findings  of  my  own  conscience,  understanding,  and 
taste,  accredit  and  indorse  their  teachings.  No 
doubt  these  in  me  may  be  at  fault,  but  so  might 
they  also  be  in  them.  If,  therefore,  this  species  of 
inspiration  sets  up  its  idola  tribus,  I  can  not  fall 

down  and  worship  them. 

31 


362       LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OP  THE  BIBLE. 

Let  me  here  recapitulate  the  characteristics  and 
conditions  of  this  lower  or  non-literal  inspiration. 
First,  the  ideas  are  presented  as  extraneous  to  the 
consciousness.  Second,  the  mind,  for  itself,  as  best 
it  may,  has  to  bring  them  within  the  sphere  of  its 
consciousness.  Third,  there  is  no  such  supervision 
as  would  guarantee  against  mistakes.  Fourth,  there 
is  therefore  fallibility ;  either  actual,  or  at  least  pos- 
sible error.  Fifth,  there  can  not  then  be  absolute 
authoritativeness.  Sixth,  there  lies  open  an  appeal 
to  another  canon  or  standard  of  certitude. 

We  have  now  to  mark  the  total  difference  in  that 
divine  afflatus,  which  we  call  inspiration  proper, 
which  the  Bible  claims  for  itself,  and  which  we 
are  entirely  disposed  to  award  to  it. 

Here  we  have  predicated  an  operation  on  the 
minds  of  the  writers,  not  merely  of  an  energizing 
or  elevating  effect,  which  left  them  to  seize  upon 
the  ideas,  and,  if  equal  to  the  effort,  to  express 
them  in  the  fitting  words,  if  such  they  could  find. 
But  here  is  an  operation  conveying  the  ideas  into 
their  minds,  and  shaping  these  ideas  within  their 
consciousness,  into  the  exact  form  and  phrase  in 
which  the  Divine  Spirit  intended  them  to  go  forth 
as  from  Himself.  Now  there  is  infallible  certitude 
here,  since  the  persons  thus  inspired  were  not  left 
to  select,  to  seize  upon,  and  to  find  expression  for 
the  ideas,  but  the  infallible  Spirit  did  this  for  them. 
These  ideas,  with  the  clothing  language,  had  to 
pass  through  a  human  channel;  but  then  a  part  of 


CONCLUSION.  363 

the  inspiration  was  to  see  that  tliey  should  not  con- 
tract the  slightest  tincture  of  error  or  mistake  in 
the  passage.  It  hence  follows,  that  the  Bible  being 
in  this  sense  inspired,  it  is  an  authoritative  standard 
of  faith  and  morals.  If  I  receive  it  at  all  as  divine, 
it  must  be  to  bow  with  implicit  submission  to  its 
teachings.  And  this  excludes  the  notion  of  any- 
other  arbiter,  standard,  or  tribunal  of  appeal  what- 
soever. Itself  is  the  supreme,  the  sole  canon — the 
test  of  all  tests — the  standard  of  all  standards. 

But  is  reason  then  to  become  a  blind  credulist? 
Must  it  abnegate  its  peculiar  function,  to  sift,  to 
weigh,  to  decide  on  evidence?  Far  from  this;  of 
all  books  the  Bible  most  entirely  acknowledges  the 
prerogatives  of  reason.  It  asks  not,  nor  will  it  ac- 
cept, a  blind  credence.  What  it  demands  is  a  belief 
which  is  founded  on  evidence.  Superstition  holds 
in  her  hand  a  mystic  scroll,  which  her  devotees, 
without  having  examined  its  credibility,  or  even 
read  its  contents,  are  expected  to  believe.  But  it 
is  not  so  with  Christianity.  What  she  presents  to 
us  is  no  folded  scroll,  but  an  open  book.  This  she 
invites  us  to  read;  and  challenges  us  to  test  it. 
She  claims  for  it  a  Divine  inspiration;  but  not  that 
we  shall  receive  it  as  inspired  till  we  have  rigor- 
ously tested  it  by  the  acknowledged  proofs  or  crite- 
ria of  inspiration.  Here,  then,  is  the  function  of 
reason.  Eevelation  owns  it,  and  appeals  to  it  as 
the  arbiter  of  inspiration,  so  far  as  the  investigation 
of  the  fact  is  involved.     That  is  to  say,  reason  has 


364        LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OP  THE  BIBLE. 

to  weigh,  sift,  and  test  the  evidences  which  the 
Bible  offers  of  its  inspiration. 

But  now  let  the  limits  of  reason  be  defined. 
Suppose  the  evidence,  being  sifted,  weighed,  and 
tested,  has  been  found  sufficient.  Say  that  reason 
is  now  satisfied  on  proof  that  the  Bible  is  the  Word 
of  God,  then  its  sole  business  is  to  find  out  the  con- 
tents of  the  book,  what  it  actually  says,  and  what 
is  the  meaning  of  its  sayings.  For  now  what  Rev- 
elation demands  is  implicit  faith.  It  allowed  reason 
full  liberty  to  put  the  proofs  of  inspiration  into  the 
crucible,  but  if  these  have  come  out  approved  from 
the  ordeal,  then  reason  is  not  left  at  liberty  to  deal 
otherwise  with  the  contents  of  Inspiration  than  im- 
plicitly to  receive  them,  for  "thus  saith  the  Lord" 
is  voucher  sufficient  for  reason  as  well  as  faith. 

Nor  could  I  pardon  myself  were  I  to  close  these 
pages  without  saying  a  word  on  the  religious  uses 
of  the  Bible.  It  is  indeed  a  thing  of  light,  and 
illumines  whatsoever  it  shines  upon;  a  thing  of 
beauty,  and  adorns  whatsoever  it  touches;  a  thing 
of  life,  and  quickens  whatsoever  it  comes  in  contact 
with.  So  has  it  illuminated,  adorned,  quickened 
literature  and  the  arts.  Imagination  has  felt  its 
power,  and  new  visions  have  risen  to  its  raptured 
eye.  Taste  has  felt  its  power,  and  become  more  re- 
fined. Intellect  has  felt  its  power,  and  its  thoughts 
have  gathered  greatness.  Genius  has  felt  its  power, 
and  soared  on  a  loftier  wing.  It  could  not  have 
been  otherwise.     For,  to  say  that  it  could  were  to 


.   CONCLUSION.  865 

affirm  that  tlie  sun  shall  shine  in  his  strength  and 
yet  the  darkness  of  night  not  be  chased  away;  or, 
that  he  shall  pour  down  his  heat  with  the  advancing 
year,  and  yet  the  snows  of  Winter  not  melt  in  the 
valleys;  or,  that  he  shall  bathe  the  budded  flower 
in  his  fostering  beams,  and  yet  the  bud  remain 
folded  till  it  dies  on  its  stalk.  The  Bible  is  the 
sun  in  our  mental  firmament.  But  then  this  sun 
has  a  double  sphere.  It  moves  in  two  orbits.  In  a 
lower,  where  it  makes  its  solar  influence  be  felt  on 
the  taste,  the  imagination,  the  intellect ;  in  a  higher, 
where  it  is  intended  to  reach  the  heart  and  the 
conscience.  JSTow  the  question  which  it  behooves  us 
to  ponder  is,  whether  we  are  letting  it  shine  upon 
us  only  from  its  nether  firmament?  Granting  that, 
with  what  may  be  called  its  natural  influences,  it 
has  reached  us  so  as  by  its  intellectual  rays  to  ex- 
pand our  imaginations  and  refine  our  tastes,  by  its 
sesthetical  rays  to  elevate  our  literature  and  im- 
prove our  arts,  with  its  thought-creating  rays  to 
enlarge  our  science  and  extend  our  philosophy;  is 
this  all  that  we  are  letting  it  do  for  us?  Is  this, 
its  lesser  mission,  to  be  accomplished  in  us,  and  the 
higher  mission  for  which  God  sent  it  to  remain  un- 
accomplished ?  Is  it  neither  to  regenerate  our  souls 
nor  renew  our  hearts?  Are  we  to  see  by  means  of 
it  only  more  clearly,  and  with  a  higher  apprecia- 
tion, what  we  saw  before;  or,  shall  we  not  in  meek- 
ness strive  to  learn  from  it  those  spiritual  mysteries 
which  are  hid  till  it  reveals  them  to  the  soul?     If 


366        LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF  THE  BIBLE. 

this  be  not  the  case,  what  were  literature,  what 
were  art,  what  were  science,  what  were  philosophy 
to  us  then?  What  were  they,  even  as  illumined, 
amplified,  and  refined  by  this  wondrous  book,  if 
they  are  all  we  have  learned  from  it?  Would  they 
even  then  be  any  thing  better  than  a  gilded  meteor, 
which  may  lend  enchantment  to  the  visions  of  our 
youth,  but  which  will  pale  over  our  dying  pillow, 
and  vanish  into  blackness  beside  our  tomb? 

I  will  not  be  suspected,  after  what  has  been  ad- 
vanced on  these  pages,  of  any  disposition  to  under- 
value literature,  or  art,  or  science;  without  their 
humanizing  influences  this  earth  had  been  a  wilder- 
ness, and  man  a  savage.  Through  means  of  them, 
the  very  humblest  spot — the  peasant's  patch  of 
ground,  the  day-laborer's  thatch-roofed  cottage,  the 
plowman's  furrowed  field,  may  be  made  to  smile  as 
a  garden;  and  the  poorest  son  of  toil  may  take  in- 
tellectual rank — a  rank  which  royal  patent  can  not 
create — with  the  nobles  of  the  land.  If  the  Bible 
does  not  proclaim  this  in  express  statement,  it  is 
the  spirit  of  all  that  it  has  said. 

If,  therefore,  we  are  obedient  to  the  sacred  vol- 
ume we  shall  cultivate  to  the  full  measure  of  our 
opportunity  all  useful  literatures,  arts,  sciences, 
and  philosophies.  And  we  shall  not  be  slow  to  ex- 
press our  gratitude,  that  it  has  made  these  such, 
that  they  are  worth  our  studying.  When  in  litera- 
ture we  discover  a  healthier  instruction  than  is  to 
be  found  on  Homer's  page ;  in  art  a  purer  sentiment 


CONCLUSION.  867 

tlian  was  to  be  seen  in  the  marbles  of  Phidias;  in 
science  a  truer  discovery  and  a  more  beneficial  in- 
vention than  was  revealed  to  Archimedes;  and  in 
philosophy  a  profounder  insight  than  Socrates  at- 
tained, we  will  be  careful  to  ascribe  the  praise 
where  most  it  is  due — even  to  that  Divine  Book, 
which  by  its  light,  its  power,  its  beauty,  its  living 
and  life-imparting  influences,  has  made  literature, 
art,  science,  and  philosophy,  what  they  are. 

But  the  question  returns,  Have  we  nothing  more 
than  this  to  praise  it  for  ?  It  is  the  book  of  celes- 
tial wisdom,  wherein  alone  can  be  learned  the  way 
of  salvation.  The  only  book  which  tells  us  whence 
we  are,  what  we  are,  and  whither  we  are  going. 
It  compasses  both  worlds:  this  which  is  passing 
away,  we  leaving  it  sooner  than  it  passes;  and  that 
other  which  is  eternal,  where  we  must  spend  our 
immortality.  It  declares  to  us  how  that  immor- 
tality may  be  endless  bliss,  and  not  endless  woe. 

I  can  picture  to  myself  a  youth  wreathing  his 
self-complacent  soul  witJi  tne  flowers  of  literature, 
and  saying,  all  is  well;  but  has  this  youth  thought 
of  it,  how  this  book  of  truth  tells  him  that  he  is  a 
sinful  creature  in  the  eyes  of  a  holy  God?  Or  I 
picture  another  youth,  as  he  gazes  on  the  fair  crea- 
tions of  art,  who,  like  the  former,  also  says,  it  is 
enough:  but  has  this  one  considered  that  the  book 
of  God  tells  him  that  unless  his  soul  is  created  anew 
by  the  Divine  Spirit  he  must  perish  everlastingly? 
Or  I  picture  to  myself  yet  another  youth,  who  hav- 


368   LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

ing  penetrated  into  the  depths  of  science  or  philos- 
ophy, is  ready  to  exclaim  that  he  has  found  the 
Eureka  of  his  life;  but  does  this  one  reflect  that 
the  Book  of  books  declares  to  him  that  life  can  not 
be  his  in  any  sense  worth  his  possessing  it,  unless 
his  death-doom  is  canceled  by  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb? 

May  I  not,  then,  without  seeming  to  be  presumpt- 
uous, close  these  pages  with  a  charge  to  these 
youths,  and  to  all,  that  they  seek  till  they  find  the 
sacred  literature  of  Zion;  that  they  search  till  they 
have  learned  the  science  of  Calvary;  that  they 
study,  patiently  and  prayerfully,  till  they  have 
mastered  the  philosophy  of  redemption  ? 


THE   END. 


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